International and local power consumers have failed to remit payments against a cumulative invoice of $14.19 million issued by the Market Operator for services provided in the first quarter of 2024.
This growing payment indiscipline, highlighted by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), raises concerns about the financial health and sustainability of Nigeria’s electricity supply industry.
This report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, identified the non-paying entities as Para-SBEE and Transcorp-SBEE in Benin Republic, owing $3.15 million and $4.46 million respectively, and Mainstream-NIGELEC and Odukpani-CEET in Togo, owing $1.21 million and $5.36 million respectively.
In addition, local bilateral customers within Nigeria also failed to make any remittances against a cumulative invoice of N1.86 million for the same period.
Despite these lapses, NERC highlighted that some payments were made during Q1 2024 towards outstanding Market Operator invoices from previous quarters.
Specifically, two international customers remitted a total of $5.96 million, while eight local bilateral customers paid N505.71 million towards debts incurred prior to Q1 2024.
The NERC further stated that the issue of payment indiscipline is not new.
In May, it was reported that international consumers failed to remit approximately $51.26 million for electricity exported from Nigeria in 2023. Additionally, bilateral power consumers within Nigeria did not remit about N7.61 billion to the Nigerian power sector in the same year.
The Federal Government’s industry data revealed that international customers failed to pay $16.11 million, $11.97 million, $11.16 million, and $12.02 million for electricity exported to them in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively.
NERC has condemned this ongoing payment indiscipline and urged the Market Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) responsible for power exports, to enforce market rules to address this challenge.
The failure of international and local customers to meet their payment obligations threatens the financial stability of the Nigerian electricity supply industry and could undermine efforts to sustain and expand power generation and distribution