Energy Expert Questions NERC Spending, Calls for Investigation

Peter Uzoho

Energy expert and Chief Executive Officer of New Hampshire Capital Limited, Odion Omonfoman, has alleged that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) operates a “black‑box” internal finance system, despite the Electricity Act 2023 requiring detailed transparency from electricity distribution companies (Discos).

Omonfoman urged Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, to use his oversight authority to compel NERC to upload audited corporate financial statements for 2023 and 2024, as well as previous years, onto its public website immediately.

In an opinion piece obtained by THISDAY, Omonfoman noted that NERC publishes comprehensive quarterly and annual reports detailing Discos’ billing efficiency, energy collection metrics, market remittance tracking, and Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collection (ATC&C) losses. However, he argued that a significant data gap exists: NERC’s own financial statements are absent from public reports.

He pointed out that NERC’s quarterly and annual reports omit the Commission’s Internally Generated Revenues (IGR), operational costs, executive remunerations, and final net surpluses. “In my opinion, NERC’s internal finances can be best described as a black‑box to the public,” he said. NERC has not responded to these allegations as of the time of filing.

Omonfoman cited Section 53 of the Electricity Act 2023, which outlines NERC’s statutory funding sources. These include core operating funds derived from fees and charges paid by licensees, allocations from the National Assembly, and other operational funds such as technical assistance and grants from the World Bank and other Development Finance Institutions. He also noted that NERC administers regulatory funds, including the Meter Asset Finance scheme and the Transmission Infrastructure Fund.

Despite these funding streams, Omonfoman observed that NERC’s 2023 and 2024 Annual Report & Accounts, while claiming to present audited financial statements in Chapter 8, do not provide downloadable public versions on its website. The 2024 report states that KPMG audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024, and the 2023 report states that PricewaterhouseCoopers audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023.

He wrote, “A review of the downloadable public versions of both the 2023 and 2024 Annual Report & Accounts on NERC’s website does not contain a signed independent auditor’s report, a statement of financial position, a statement of financial performance or income and expenditure, a cash flow statement, accounting policies, notes to the accounts, or schedules explaining NERC’s revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities and operating surplus.”

Omonfoman argued that financial transparency in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) must be reciprocal. “NERC enforces open‑book accounting on operators while keeping its own balance sheet in the dark,” he said.

He referenced Section 119(3) of the Electricity Act, which requires licensees to publish quarterly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including financial data and customer service information, on official websites. “The same principle should apply to the regulator. If Discos must publish service delivery and financial performance data for public scrutiny, NERC should not make its own audited accounts difficult to locate. The standard set for the market should be met by the institution that sets and enforces that standard,” Omonfoman stated.