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Court Declares Electricity Tariff Hike Illegal

Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos, yesterday declared as illegal, null and void the recent hike of electricity tariff by the federal government through the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

According to Justice Idris, the increment is procedurally ultra vires, irrational, irregular and illegal.

While the judge ordered the government to revert to the old tariff with immediate effect, he also restrained it from further increasing electricity tariff except it complies strictly with the relevant provisions of the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005.

A Lagos lawyer, Toluwani Adebiyi, had filed the suit in April 2015, seeking an order restraining the power regulator, NERC, from implementing any upward review of electricity tariff without a meaningful and significant improvement in power supply to Nigerians.

Based on the application, Justice Idris had, on May 28, 2015, directed NERC to suspend all actions relating to any increment in electricity tariff pending the hearing and final determination of the suit.

But despite the subsisting court order, NERC, in conjunction with the electricity distribution companies (Discos) commenced the implementation of the new electricity tariff on February 1, 2016.

While delivering judgment on the suit yesterday, Justice Idris cited Sections 31, 32 and 76 of the EPSRA 2005, and held that “NERC acted outside the powers conferred on it by the Act and failed to follow the prescribed procedure.

“NERC has not shown that it acted in due obedience to the prescribed procedures and that there is no evidence that NERC complied with Section 76(6)(7)and (9) of the EPSRA Act.

“Of all the legal requirements, it appeared the only one complied with by NERC was that it announced the new tariff in the newspapers.”

Justice Idris further remarked that NERC had also gone ahead to effect the increase in tariff in defiance of his order of May 28, 2015 which had directed parties in the case to maintain the status quo.

He said: “The law is that every person upon whom an order is made by a court of competent jurisdiction must obey it, unless and until the order is discharged and set aside at the Appeal.

“The tariff increase from July 1, 2015 was done in breach of the ‘status quo’ order. NERC’s action was, therefore, clearly hasty, reckless and irresponsible.

“This country is in a democracy where the rule of law shall prevail over impunity or whimsical desires. Anything to the contrary will be an invitation to anarchy. It is the law that what is done officially must be done in accordance to the law. Investors are free to do business in Nigeria but they shall abide by the law of this country. Nigeria is not a kangaroo state. Nigeria is not a banana republic. It is intolerance and extremely dangerous for any branch of the executive to create the posture that it may not obey certain orders of the court. That is tantamount to executive recklessness which will lead to lawlessness.

“The increment in electricity tariff which took effect after the institution of this action and while a restraining order is subsisting is hereby declared illegal and same is hereby set aside.

“NERC is hereby directed to reverse to the status quo and the commission is hereby restrained from further increasing electricity tariff except it complies strictly with the relevant provisions of the EPSRA.”

Justice Idris went on to award N50, 000 to the lawyer who filed the suit.

 

 

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Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

 

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