Unveiling the Electricity Act, 2023: Changes in the Power Sector, Opportunities and the Next Steps

On 9^th June 2023, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, assented the Electricity Bill 2022, effectively repealing the EPSRA 2005.

Before the emergence of the Electricity Act 2023 (the ‘‘EA 2023’’), the repealed EPSRA 2005 was enacted as the foundation of the efforts to revive Nigeria’s power sector and introduce private participation. Based on the ESPRA 2005, Nigeria’s power sector was unbundled and privatized in the generation and distribution sub-sectors. The EPSRA 2005 further provided the general legal framework for forming successor companies to take over the defunct NEPA’s assets and liabilities and to establish the NERC as the primary regulator of the power sector.

Eighteen (18) years after the passage of the EPSRA 2005 and thirteen (13) years since privatization, Nigeria’s power sector still suffers the same perennial challenges since the inception of power supply in the country. Thus, necessitating a new legal framework to guide the post-privatization phase of the sector. Hence, the enactment of the EA 2023.