The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has given the newly constituted interim board of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc 12 months to overhaul the company, reduce its losses and address its persistent metering shortfall.
According to The Punch, the directive is part of NERC’s renewed intervention in the Kaduna electricity distribution company following repeated failures to meet market obligations and prescribed performance targets.
NERC Chairman, Musiliu Oseni, issued the charge while addressing members of the Interim Board of Special Directors and the Interim Administrator of KAEDC, according to a statement released by the commission on Tuesday.
“The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has tasked the newly constituted Interim Board of Special Directors of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc with implementing immediate interventions to reset the utility company and restore it to a sustainable growth trajectory within 12 months.”
Oseni said the new management was expected to deliver measurable improvements without delay, recalling that a similar regulatory intervention in 2024 had resulted in significant improvements in the company’s performance before its former investors regained control.
“We expect a lot from you, and the Administrator will bring you up to speed to ensure that you meet the target within one year. Most importantly, we want to begin to see progress immediately,” he said.
The NERC chairman identified KAEDC’s high Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection losses, alongside its substantial metering deficit, as some of the key challenges requiring urgent attention.
The latest intervention comes amid persistent challenges confronting Nigeria’s electricity distribution industry, including inadequate metering, electricity theft, poor revenue collection and technical losses, all of which continue to affect the financial health of distribution companies and the reliability of power supply.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises also charged the new management to maximise available metering programmes to close the gap across KAEDC’s franchise area.
The BPE Director-General, Ayo Gbeleyi, said the company had access to several metering initiatives that could be deployed more aggressively to improve accountability in electricity consumption and boost revenue collection.
NERC’s Commissioner for Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, said the members of the interim board were selected based on their professional expertise and the skills required to turn around the company.
The five-member board is headed by Abdullahi Garba, who pledged to collaborate with NERC and BPE in tackling the DisCo’s outstanding operational and financial challenges.
Garba said the board would prioritise improving KAEDC’s operational and financial performance, with the broader objective of making the company viable and attractive to potential investors.
He said the board’s objective was not only to stabilise the utility but also to make it “a model for improved performance in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.”
The interim board was further mandated to ensure prudent management of funds and deploy its collective expertise towards restoring KAEDC’s performance in the electricity market.
The development followed NERC Order No. NERC/2026/08, which dissolved the previous Board of Directors of KAEDC over its repeated failure to meet market obligations and other prescribed performance indicators.
NERC subsequently constituted a five-member Interim Board of Special Directors for an initial one-year term, with Garba appointed as chairman.
The commission also appointed Abubakar Umar Hashidu as Interim Administrator for six months to work alongside the board and lead the company’s restructuring.
The latest move follows the regulator’s 2024 intervention in KAEDC, which NERC said produced notable improvements in the company’s performance.
The new management is therefore expected to build on those gains while tackling the structural problems that emerged after the former investors returned to control the company.
With the one-year mandate now underway, the board faces the task of delivering measurable improvements in electricity distribution, metering, revenue collection and loss reduction.
NERC said it would closely monitor KAEDC’s performance throughout the intervention as efforts continue to restore the company’s financial and operational stability.
