A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State has struck out a case by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) against the implementation of electricity tariff review by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) PLC and 11 others.
The Nigerian Regulatory Electricity Commission (NERC) disclosed this in a circular it shared on its official X account on Thursday morning.
NERC said in the judgment delivered on Monday, October 7, 2024, the court considered all the parties’ arguments and ruled that MAN’s suit was an abuse of court process being premature and without due regard to the provisions of section 51 of the Electricity Act 2023.
It said the court also held that MAN’s case disclosed no reasonable cause of action as it had not exhausted the dispute resolution mechanism.
NERC said the court thus held that the suit was not instituted with due process of law and consequently struck out the case.
MAN had challenged the minor review of the electricity tariff by NERC and filed a lawsuit at the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court.
MAN sought four reliefs: that due process stated in the Act for the review was not fulfilled before AEDC and the others applied 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 April 3, 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 noted that the defendants must comply with administrative procedures for tariff review before rightfully implementing the April and May Supplementary Orders.
NERC said it had objected to the suit, stating that MAN’s case constitutes an abuse of court processes, being hasty and prematurely filed without following due process of the law.
