As the federal and state governments and private investors continue to explore options to boost the nation’s power generation and distribution capacity, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has transferred the regulatory market in Bayelsa State to the Bayelsa Electricity Regulatory Agency.
The NERC, iIn a notice on its social media handles on Monday, stated that the transfer of the regulatory authority to Bayelsa was in compliance with the amended 1999 Constitution and the Electricity Act 2023.
It stated “In compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State from the Commission to the Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency.”
The NERC directed Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc (PHEDC) to incorporate a subsidiary distribution company to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Bayelsa State from it.
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In addition, the power industry regulatory commission further ordered PHEDC to complete the incorporation of PHEDC SubCo within 60 days from August 21, 2025, stating that “the subcompany shall apply for and obtain a licence for the intrastate supply and distribution of electricity from BYERA, among other directives.”
The commission maintained that all transfers envisaged by the order shall be completed by February 20, 2026.
With this latest order, Bayelsa has joined states like Lagos, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Edo, Oyo, and Plateau, which had earlier been granted the power to regulate electricity markets in their domains, and the state can now generate, transmit, and distribute electricity while issuing licences to investors within the value chain.
Despite the devolution of the regulatory power to the state governments over the past year, electricity generation and distribution in the country have not significantly increased due to sundry challenges, including some macroeconomic factors and inability of the subnational governments to
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, had promised to increase power generation to 6,000 MW before the end of 2024, but this was not achieved.
On March 5 this year, the minister reported that power generation increased to a new high of 6,003MW due to the Band A tariff increase, with the promise that the generated power would surge to 7,000 MW but the 6003MW feat could not be sustained for a few days.
The NERC , in its just published report indicated that Nigeria’s power plants recorded an average available capacity of 5,577 MW in July this year despite an installed capacity of 13,625 MW, representing 41% of the installed capacity and 5% decline from the average available capacity recorded in June 2025.
The report reflected that the hourly power generation during the month was 4,340 megawatt-hours per hour, a marginal 0.3 per cent increase from June, while the average load factor stood at 78%, slightly lower by 3%, indicating that the majority of the power plants are performing way below their capacities.
