The Nigerian Government may be considering the establishment within the next 30 days of an inter-ministerial energy committee that would undertake the regulatory functions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in the gas/electricity value chain, to ensure uninterrupted supply of natural gas from the oil companies to the power plants in the country.
Under the National Gas Master Plan, the DPR is mandated to implement a Gas Pricing Regulation framework of 2007, which provides the legal basis for gas supply to domestic market, particularly the power sector, to provide the energy required to power productive activities in the economy.
On the other hand, NERC has the responsibilities under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act to undertake the technical and economic regulation of the tariff, approval of capacity expansion and business plans in the electricity industry value chain.
To guarantee the energy necessary to drive productive activities in the economy, the Finance and Economy sub-committee of the Ahmed Joda-led Transition Committee set up by the ruling All Progressives Congress to assist the smooth take off of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, recommended that the creation of the committee that would merge and streamline decision making processes between the two agencies and increase regulatory certainty and investor confidence in the power sector.
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