The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says power firms of three nations; Togo, Benin, Niger and some other special customers are owing N770m being the total value of bills issued by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) company, the Market Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in respect of the electricity supplied to them from Nigeria in the second quarter of 2021.
According to NERC Second Quarter Report 2021, nothing was paid by the neighboring West African countries and other special customers for the power supplied to them from Nigeria during the period.
The debtor countries’ power firms include: Niger Republic’s Societe Nigerienne d’electricite (NIGELEC), Benin Republic’s Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) and Togo Republic’s Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET).
“During the quarter under review, NBET and MO issued a total of N0.77bn in respect of energy sold by NBET and services rendered by MO to the special (Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and other bilateral customers) and international customers (Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC, Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique – SBEE and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo– CEET).” The report said
According to the commission, “No payment was made by these customers during the quarter under review. It is hoped that as the economy of these customers improves post-COVID-19 lock-down so that they will resume the settlement of their bills in full.”
The power sector regulator also noted that many distribution companies in Nigeria failed to make payments for electricity sold to them by the NBET during the period under review.
“During the second quarter of 2021, a total invoice of N259.7bn was issued to the eleven Discos for energy received from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and for service charge by MO, out of which a sum of N130.11bn was settled, representing remittance performance of 50.11 per cent.
“This represents a 1.78 percentage point decrease from the final settlement rate recorded in the first quarter of 2021.
The NERC stated that apart from Eko Disco, none of the other Discos met their expected minimum remittance thresholds to NBET in the quarter under review.
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