Rahila Thomas, Chairperson, Kaduna Electric

Rahila Thomas has over 20 years of combined public and private sector work experience in the power sector. She has an extensive knowledge of all aspects of the Nigeria electricity supply industry from generation, transmission to distribution with respect to how the industry has evolved in structure, management, operations and performance.

Currently Chairperson, Kaduna Electric. Kaduna Electric was registered as a company out of the 18 successor companies carved out from the former National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) which was decentralised into the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Privatised on December 4, 2014, located in the North-Western part of Nigeria, Kaduna Electric has distribution license to serve customers in 4 states of Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara covering 84 LGAs, spread over 150,000 KM2.

Rahila was lead advisor in supporting the ‘Senate Committee of the 9th National Assembly on Power’ in the preparation of the Electricity Bill enacted in June 2023, which has decentralised the Nigerian electricity market with greater involvement by state governments.

She is the Country Director of Energy Market And Rates Consultants Limited (EMRC) in Nigeria, leading and managing an interdisciplinary and dynamic team of consultants and associates that provide transaction advisory, industry-wide power market analysis, financial and techno-economic due diligence, tariff design, policy and regulatory support.

EMRC provides transaction advisory and support to regulators, distributors, generators, investors and operators in the power and gas sectors around the world. AF Mercados EMI, now EMRC with the same group of specialists, was a major adviser during the restructuring of the Nigerian Power sector to NERC, BPE, PHCN, investors and successor Discos and Gencos, and has built a deep understanding of the regulatory and power market frameworks in Nigeria.

Rahila previously worked as Technical Adviser on the Regulatory & Transaction Team of the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) where she was involved in the unbundling process of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), preparation of the Power Sector Roadmap 2010, development of the new market and earlier privatisation processes.

Thomas has held several technical advisory positions to three consecutive ministers of the power sector in Nigeria and was Special Assistant on Energy to Hon. Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission. Earlier in her career, she was a core member of the Electric Power Team in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), driving the Nigeria power sector reform programme where she participated in the preparation of the National Electric Power Policy 2001, EPSR Act 2005, the Market Rules, Grid Codes and Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).

She brings proven experience as a power sector expert and strategist with a BSc in Business Administration, MSc in Energy Finance and Galileo Master Certificate (GMC) on Renewable Energy Solutions, Management and Finance.