The Republic of Benin, Niger Republic and Togo made no payment for the electricity supplied to them from Nigeria in the second quarter of 2021, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said.
In its just released Second Quarter Report 2021, the NERC stated that the power firms of the three nations and some other special customers were issued a total bill of N770m by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company and the Market Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
It, however, noted that nothing was paid by the neighbouring countries and other special customers for the power supplied to them from Nigeria during the period.
The neighbouring countries’ power firms include Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC, in Niger Republic; Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique – SBEE, in Benin Republic; and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo– CEET, in Togo Republic.
“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 lockdown so that they will resume the settlement of their bills in full.”
Nigeria, through its electricity transmission company, supplies power to these countries, which are classified as international customers in the Nigerian power sector. Niger’s power firm, Societe Nigerienne d’electricite, failed to pay a total invoice of N3.01bn it received in the first quarter of 2019; N3.69bn in Q2; and N4.1bn in Q3.
Communaute Electrique du Benin, a power firm owned by Togo and Benin, did not pay N9.74bn for the power supplied to it in Q1; N7.16bn in Q2; and N2.27bn in Q3. NERC said in its latest quarterly report released on Friday that the international customers made no payment for the total outstanding debt in Q3.
The Nigerian Government has continued to engage the governments of neighboring countries benefiting from the export supply to ensure timely payments for the electricity purchased from Nigeria,” it said.The regulator said the financial viability and commercial performance of the Nigerian electricity supply industry continued to be a major challenge. According to the report, a total invoice of N179.66bn was issued to the power distribution companies for energy received from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and for service charge by the Market Operator in Q3, but only a sum of N58.81bn was settled.
On the performance of distribution companies in Nigeria with respect to the payment of electricity sold to them by the NBET, the power sector regulator stated that the firms did not pay up all their bills.
“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.
It stated that overall, the total Disco remittance to NBET was 76 per cent of expected total for the quarter, as the average aggregate remittance performances to MO and NBET decreased by 1.78 percentage points from 51.88 per cent in first quarter 2021 to 50.1 per cent in the second quarter.
“Discos remittance performance level ranged from 10.51 per cent (Yola) to 63.69 per cent (Eko) for NBET and 28.76 per cent (Yola) to 99.88 per cent (Eko) for MO,” the NERC stated.
It added, “Ikeja recorded zero remittance to MO in the months of May and June 2021 as they wait to resolve Service Level Agreement dispute.”
On commercial performance, the report stated that the total billing to and collection from electricity consumers by all the 11 Discos stood at N268.97bn and N185.29bn respectively during the quarter under review, implying a collection efficiency of 68.89 per cent.
