FG states that Benin, Togo owe Nigeria $14m electricity fee

None of the four international bilateral customers supplied by Nigerian power generation companies paid their share of the $14.19 million cumulative invoice issued by the market operator for services provided in the first quarter of 2024, according to a report from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The foreign entities involved are Para-SBEE in Benin Republic ($3.15 million), Transcorp-SBEE in Benin ($4.46 million), Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo ($1.21 million), and Odukpani-CEET in Togo ($5.36 million). The NERC also reported that no payments were received from local bilateral customers for the N1.86 million invoice issued for Q1 2024 services.

However, some bilateral customers, both international and local, made payments during the quarter for outstanding invoices from previous periods. Specifically, two international customers paid a total of $5.96 million, and eight local bilateral customers contributed N505.71 million towards pre-2024 debts.

The NERC noted that it expects the market operator to enforce market rules to address what it described as payment indiscipline among both local and international bilateral customers.

Earlier in May, it was reported that international consumers had failed to remit about $51.26 million to Nigeria for electricity exported in 2023. Additionally, bilateral power consumers did not pay approximately N7.61 billion to the Nigerian power sector for the same year.

NERC condemned this lack of payment, urging the Market Operator, part of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to address this issue. Analysis of industry data showed that international consumers failed to remit $16.11 million, $11.97 million, $11.16 million, and $12.02 million for electricity supplied in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively.