by Faridat Salifu
Nasarawa State is set to begin licensing and regulating electricity providers within its territory, following a formal transfer of authority from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
This transition marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s power sector reform under the Electricity Act 2023, which empowers states to oversee their own intrastate electricity markets.
NERC announced over the weekend that it has issued a formal order transferring regulatory oversight to the Nasarawa State Electricity Regulatory Commission (NASERC).
The move allows the state to control supply, distribution, and retail operations within its boundaries, while NERC will retain oversight of cross-border and national grid activities.
As part of the process, NERC has mandated the Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) to create a new subsidiary—AEDC SubCo—dedicated to handling Nasarawa’s electricity supply.
The subsidiary must be incorporated by October 3, 2025, and obtain an operating licence from NASERC.
All transition steps, including regulatory licensing and operational restructuring, must be concluded by February 3, 2026.
Nasarawa becomes the latest state to activate its regulatory independence, joining the ranks of Lagos, Edo, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Imo, Enugu, Kogi, Niger, and Oyo.
This decentralisation is part of broader reforms designed to localise electricity governance and improve service delivery across Nigeria’s diverse states.
