BREAKING: COURT STRIKES OUT MAN'S SUIT CHALLENGING ELECTRICITY TARIFF HIKE

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A Federal High Court in Lagos has struck out a case by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria challenging the implementation of the Band A electricity tariff review by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and 11 others.

A statement by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday stated that the judgement was delivered on Monday.

In the judgement, the court was said to have considered all the parties’ arguments and ruled that MAN’s suit was an abuse of the court process, being premature and without due regard to the provisions of Section 51 of the Electricity Act 2023.

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“The court also held that MAN’s case disclosed no reasonable cause of action as it had not exhausted the dispute resolution mechanism.

“It thus held that the suit was not instituted with due process of law, and consequently struck out the case,” the NERC said.

It was recalled that MAN contested the NERC’s small revision of the energy rate and filed a lawsuit in the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court.

The manufacturers requested four reliefs: that the necessary process required by the Act for the review was not followed before AEDC, and the others appealed to NERC for the tariff review on July 31, 2023.

It stated that regulatory requirements for tariff reviews were not followed before NERC issued the Supplementary Order of 3 April 2024 and the subsequently reviewed rate of May 6, 2024.

MAN also held that placing the burden of the tariff increase on only Band “A” feeders and leaving out other bands amounted to discrimination against such consumers.

It then stated that the defendants must follow administrative tariff review procedures before implementing the April and May Supplementary Orders.

NERC opposed the litigation, claiming that MAN’s case is an abuse of court processes because it was brought hastily and prematurely without due process of law.

Band A clients are premium customers who receive no government assistance. However, they are guaranteed at least 20 hours of electricity per day.

Manufacturers in this group of consumers said that their tariffs had tripled to N209.50 per kilowatt-hour, severely increasing production costs.