Electricity market law will boost economic life of Osun State

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has described the passage into law of the state electricity bill as a major tool to deepen and boost the economy of the state.

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On Monday, the Osun House of Assembly passed a bill to establish an electricity regulatory commission for the state. The bill, ‘Osun State Electricity Market Regulatory Bill 2025,’ was passed after its third reading during plenary in Osogbo.

“The bill, once signed into law, will empower the state to establish an Electricity Regulatory Commission responsible for overseeing electricity-related matters across Osun,” Olamide Tiamiyu, the Chief Press Secretary to the speaker of the house, said on Monday.

Reacting to the passage of the executive bill, the governor, in a statement issued Tuesday by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, said the bill will open windows of opportunities for investors in the power sector with a lot of offgrid generation opportunities.

Mr Adeleke added that sources of power generation will be diversified, opened up and regulated to address what he called chronic power supply crisis rocking the state.

“The new law will ensure the right energy mix. Renewable energy will complement the traditional energy sources. Osun state is open to new energy sector investors,” Mr Adeleke was quoted as saying.

Aside from tapping into various power generation sources in the state, he said the era of exploitation and oppression of Osun people by some officials of Ibadan electricity distribution company is over.

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He explained that the new law provides for the establishment of the State Electricity Regulatory Agency to regulate and monitor the electricity market as well as attend to service delivery issues by the distribution company.

He stressed that the commission will be empowered to address complaints of electricity users and act on the activities of the distribution company, warning that the DisCo should sit tight now ahead of the eventual take off of the commission.

“The regulatory commission will be addressing critical issues relating to customer service providers complaints. It will grant licenses to power generators among others. The commission will not allow current maltreatment of electricity users in the state.

“I will invite all stakeholders to the signing into law ceremony. The business community in Osun state should heave a sigh of relief. The much needed policy framework for the state power sector has arrived,” he said.

The governor commended the House of Assembly, the State Ministry of Energy and all those who worked on the draft bill and participated in the consultation processes leading to the passage by the state assembly.

ALSO READ: Adeleke expresses shock that Osun community’s had no electricity for 15 years

In March 2023, former President late Muhammadu Buhari signed 16 constitutional amendment bills, one of which pertains to the devolution of powers concerning the national grid system. It also provided clarity on the powers of the federal government and states to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity.

In June 2024, President Bola Tinubu assented to the electricity bill, which authorises states, companies, and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity. The new electricity law repeals the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), signed by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.

With the new law, states would be able to issue licenses to private investors who can operate mini-grids and power plants, but such state licenses are not to extend to inter-state or transnational distribution of electricity.

In the same year, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) began the process of granting states the authority to manage their electricity markets, including the generation, transmission, and distribution of power within their boundaries.