The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has told electricity consumers in states with newly created power regulators to stop sending complaints on billing, metering, and service delivery issues to the federal commission.
Under the new arrangement, complaints from affected states will now be handled by state electricity regulators following the transfer of oversight powers under the Electricity Act 2023.
The directive affects 15 states that have already set up their own electricity regulatory structures. These include Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Delta is not listed here so don’t add it, plus Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau.
NERC said consumers in these states should now take complaints directly to their state regulators rather than escalating issues to the federal body.
The shift covers disputes around estimated billing, delayed or faulty meters, customer service complaints against distribution companies, and concerns over power supply reliability.
The commission said the move is part of the broader decentralisation of Nigeria’s electricity market, which is gradually moving authority over intrastate electricity operations from the federal level to states.
The idea is straightforward: bring regulation closer to the consumer and reduce the bottlenecks that often slow down complaint resolution at the national level.
For consumers, this changes where problems go, not the problems themselves. Complaints about inflated bills, meter rollouts, and poor supply will now be handled locally, with state regulators expected to respond faster and align decisions with local electricity realities.
The transition is one of the clearest practical changes under the Electricity Act 2023, which broke the long-standing federal hold on power regulation and opened the door for states to manage their own electricity markets.
