The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says it has communicated the need for the Federal Government to intervene over the longstanding trend of non-payment and debts by international customers, and others to the power sector.
This was contained in the 2023 fourth-quarter report, the latest, obtained by newsmen.
According to the report, as of the quarter under review, electricity Distribution Companies also known as the DisCos, and four international customers serviced by the Market Operator, did not remit a total of ₦97.5bn to the power sector in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Statistics obtained from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s 2023 fourth quarter report, said the 11 DisCos held unto ₦81bn, while four international customers (Paras SBEE, Transcorp SBEE, Mainstream NIGELEC and Odu-Pani-CEET ), did not remit $12m (₦16.5 when converted using ₦1,367/$1 rate) invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2023/Q4.
This puts total debt by the DisCos and international customers at ₦97.5bn for the period under review.
A breakdown of the explanation of the debt by the DisCos, showed that in 2023/Q4, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by DisCos was approximately ₦270bn, consisting of ₦223bn for generation costs from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) company, and about ₦47bn for transmission and administrative services by the MO.
However, out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum of ₦188.7bn (₦156bn for NBET and ₦32.5bn for MO), with an outstanding balance of about ₦81bn. This translates to a remittance performance of about 70 per cent in 2023/Q4 compared to the 76 per cent (remittance of ₦158bn out of the total invoice of ₦208.7bn) recorded in 2023/Q3.
The total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2023/Q4 was ₦294.9bn out of the ₦399.7bn that was billed to customers. This translates to a collection efficiency of 74 per cent. In comparison, the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2023/Q3 was ₦268bn, out of the ₦349bn billed to customers which translated to a 76 per cent collection efficiency. The 74 per cent collection efficiency recorded in 2023/Q4 is –2.77per cent lower than the efficiency recorded in 2023/Q3 (76 per cent).
The report further detailed that none of the four international customers being supplied by GenCos in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), made payment against the cumulative invoice of $12.02m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2023/Q4.
