The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on Thursday sealed the headquarters of Ikeja Electric after the company allegedly failed to comply with regulatory directives issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The enforcement took place at the Alausa office in Lagos, where FCCPC officials, accompanied by security personnel, ordered staff out of the building and locked up the premises.
FCCPC Director of Surveillance and Investigation, Bola Adeyinka, explained that the action followed months of reminders and repeated engagements with Ikeja Electric.
Adeyinka noted that NERC had earlier issued a binding decision directing the electricity distribution company to unbundle a Maximum Demand customer account into twenty separate residential accounts.
The order recognised nineteen flats and a service point as individual customer units and required appropriate metering and connection.
According to the FCCPC, the failure to implement this directive left the complainant without electricity for more than two and a half years despite paying all required charges.
Adeyinka stressed that the prolonged outage prevented the property owner from putting the residential units to use.
The commission issued a directive in April outlining steps for compliance and later followed up with a Compliance Notice in October that gave the company seven business days to act.
With no action taken, the FCCPC moved to seal the headquarters, describing the enforcement as a proportionate measure. The seal will remain until Ikeja Electric provides written evidence of full compliance.
Ikeja Electric confirmed the development and acknowledged that the dispute arose from a compliance issue raised by the FCCPC.
The company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kingsley Okotie, explained that Ikeja Electric had responded to the commission with concerns about the technical and operational implications of the directive.
Okotie added that the company submitted its reservations in writing, yet the commission proceeded with enforcement. He noted that the FCCPC is legally empowered to act and the company had no option but to allow the officials to carry out their work.
Documents provided by the company showed that its compliance response, dated October 14, stated that the property in question remained a single consolidated structure rather than a residential block with nineteen flats.
The company explained that the NERC Forum ruling instructed it to unbundle the existing account and provide twenty prepaid meters. However, its technical assessment found that the premises had not been partitioned into separate units and lacked the internal low-voltage network required to support twenty individual meters.
Ikeja Electric maintained that implementing the order in the current state of the property could pose safety risks and insisted its position was based on technical realities rather than disobedience.
Despite the seal, Okotie assured customers that electricity distribution across the network continued without interruption. He noted that the company began coordinating operations through its district centres to ensure the closure of the headquarters did not affect supply.
He described the commission’s approach as avoidable and explained that the issue could have been resolved quietly. Okotie added that Ikeja Electric is engaging the FCCPC in hopes of reaching a quick resolution, noting that a prolonged closure could create challenges for operational coordination.
He stressed that the company remains committed to keeping power flowing, especially at a time when customers rely heavily on stable electricity.
The FCCPC stated that the next step depends on Ikeja Electric’s willingness to comply fully with NERC’s directive. For now, the company’s headquarters remains sealed while discussions continue.
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