- NERC has disclosed that international customers failed to settle a $14.19 million electricity bill for the first quarter of 2024.
- The report noted that the average available generation capacity across all power plants in the country dropped to 4,249.10MW in Q1 of 2024.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that international customers failed to settle a $14.19 million electricity bill for the first quarter of 2024.
According to the NERC’s report, none of the four international customers, which include neighbouring countries like Benin Republic, Niger, and Togo, made any payments for the electricity exported to them.
The report states, “In 2024/Q1, none of the four (4) international bilateral customers serviced by the MO made any payment against the $14.19 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q1. Similarly, none of the bilateral customers within the country made any payment against the cumulative invoice of N1,860.11 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q1”
The report also states that both local and international bilateral electricity customers made payments for previous quarters owed. It noted that the 2 international bilateral customers paid around $5.19 million while 8 bilateral customers within Nigeria paid around N505.71 million.
In the first quarter of 2024, Distribution Companies (DisCos) were billed a total of N114.12 billion for upstream services, which included N65.96 billion for generation costs and N48.16 billion for transmission and administrative services.
The DisCos collectively paid N110.62 billion, leaving an outstanding balance of N3.50 billion. This resulted in a remittance performance of 96.93 per cent, a significant improvement from the 69.88 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The report noted that the average available generation capacity across all power plants in the country dropped to 4,249.10MW in Q1 of 2024- reflecting a decrease of 13.68 p (or 673.16MW) compared to the 4,922.26MW recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The decline was caused by reduced generation capacities of 17 of the 27 grid-connected power plants reported in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter.
In a recent directive issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to electricity generation companies, the regulator criticised the practice of prioritising international customers while limiting the offtake by distribution companies (Discos) during grid imbalances, calling it both inefficient and unfair.
Under the new order, electricity generation companies must allocate no more than 10 per cent of their generation capacity to international off-takers over the next six months.