NERC to sanction TCN, market operator over shady transactions

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said it will not hesitate to sanction the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Market Operator (MO) over allegedly operating a unilateral bank account.
According to Dr. Usman Abba-Arabi, Head, Public Affairs in Abuja, NERC had on Monday issued notices of Commencement of Enforcement Action on the Market Operator (MO).
He stated that the notice gave the erring MO seven days ultimatum to take remedial actions by winding down the said unilateral bank account and commence compliance, failure of which disciplinary action will be applied on it by the commission.
MO is a division of the TCN that issues market settlements and invoices due to the market participants and service providers in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). TCN, which is currently under management contract with Manitoba Hydro of Canada, is a licensee of NERC.
The licence empowers it to manage the MO and the System Operator (SO), which is responsible for the wheeling of electrons (electricity) from generation to electricity distribution companies.
He, however, explained that the issues arose when at the twilight of the immediate past administration, the Federal Government appointed some staff in the MO division as a separate management and TCN in response removed names of the elevated staff from its payroll.
The MO, which incidentally partly manages cash flow in the electricity market reacted by opening a separate bank account other than the one known to TCN. The statement added that the matter was subsequently brought before the commission at its August 19, 2015 regulatory meeting.  Parties were consequently issued directives on August 27, 2015, to take remedial actions, which they are yet to comply with.
In separate notices signed by the Deputy General Manager, Enforcement Unit, NERC, Mr. Chijioke Obi, parties were told that their continued actions were in disobedience to Section 63(1) of the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act 2005, which stipulates that, “a licensee shall comply with the provisions of his licence, regulation, codes, and other requirements issued by the commission from time to time.” They were also reminded of the Section 3(1) of the licence conditions, which stipulates that, “licensee shall comply with any orders, directions and determinations made by the commission pursuant to the Act, any regulations made under the Act or this licence.”
Specifically, TCN was directed to “put the appointed/elevated staff back on the payroll and on the level that matches the present status in the interim until counter presidential directive to the one elevating and appointing them to the positions on the instructions of the former president is made.”
Whereas the MO was directed to, “immediately close the subsidiary account, restore the original account to the normal condition of consensual approval and inform the commission accordingly.”