Electricity Act, 2023

(1) The primary objective of this Act is to provide a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to guide the operation of a privatised, contract and rule-based competitive electricity market in Nigeria and attract through transformative policy and regulatory measures, private sector investments in the entire power value chain of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (in this Act referred to as “the NESI”), and specifically, the Act seeks to achieve the following objectives –

(a) provide an ideal legal and institutional framework to leverage on the modest gains of the privatisation phase of electric power sector in Nigeria to accelerate growth in power generation capacity and improve utilisation of generated power through increased investments in new and efficient power generation technology and revamping existing power plants;

(b) promote policy and regulatory measures to ensure the expansion of power transmission networks in Nigeria to address any imbalance in the existing transmission infrastructure;

(c) stimulate policy and regulatory measures to generally scale up efficient power generation, transmission, and distribution capabilities of the power sector in Nigeria with a view to achieve a national electricity access targets and attaining the highest per capita power consumption in Africa within a reasonable time frame;

(d) stipulate consequential, transitional and saving provisions regarding reforms made under the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, No. 6, 2005 (in this Act referred to as “the Repealed Act”);

(e) provide clear guide and legal basis for a phase-wide development of the Nigerian electricity supply industry since the conclusion of the privatisation phase as implemented under the provisions of the Repealed Act;

(f) promote the development of a competitive electricity market;

(g) stimulate policy measures that will attract investments across the Nigerian electricity value chain to re-energise economic growth, drive job creation and improve the living conditions of Nigerians;

(h) provide a clear legal and institutional framework for the formulation and adoption of a National Integrated Electricity Policy and Implementation Plan;