Why Are Niger, Togo, And Others Not Paying Their $14m Electricity Debt To Nigeria?

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that international customers have neglected to settle a $14.19 million electricity bill for the initial quarter of 2024.

Photo culled from businessday.ng

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that international customers have neglected to settle a $14.19 million electricity bill for the initial quarter of 2024. The four international customers, including neighbouring countries such as Benin Republic, Niger, and Togo, have failed to make any payments for the electricity exported to them.

No Payments Made in the First Quarter

The NERC report highlighted that none of the international bilateral customers serviced by the MO (Nigeria’s Transmission Company) made any payment against the $14.19 million invoice issued to them for services rendered in the first quarter of 2024. Furthermore, none of the bilateral customers within the country made any payment against the cumulative invoice of N1,860.11 million issued to them for services rendered in the same period.

Previous Payments and Outstanding Balances

Despite the fact that international and local bilateral electricity customers have settled outstanding payments for previous quarters, the report noted that in the first quarter of 2024, two international bilateral customers paid approximately $5.19 million, and eight bilateral customers within Nigeria paid around N505.71 million.

DisCos’ Payment Performance

Distribution Companies (DisCos) were invoiced a total of N114.12 billion for upstream services in the first quarter of 2024, encompassing N65.96 billion for generation costs and N48.16 billion for transmission and administrative services. Ultimately, the DisCos collectively paid N110.62 billion, leaving an outstanding balance of N3.50 billion, resulting in a remittance performance of 96.93%, a substantial improvement from the 69.88% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Decline in Power Generation Capacity

The report also highlighted that the average available generation capacity across all power plants in the country declined to 4,249.10MW in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting a decrease of 13.68% (or 673.16MW) compared to the 4,922.26MW recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023. This decline was attributed to reduced generation capacities of 17 out of the 27 grid-connected power plants reported in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter.