October 14, (THEWILL) – International bilateral electricity customers in Benin Republic and Togo owe Nigeria a total of $5.79m for the energy consumed between April and June 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has said.
The foreign companies off-taking power from Nigeria are Para-SBEE in Benin Republic ($1.23m), Transcorp-SBEE in Benin, Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo ($1.09m), and Odukpani-CEET in Togo ($3.47m).
In the latest report for the second quarter of 2024, NERC said out of the $15.60m invoice issued by the market operator between April and June, the international customers remitted $9.81m.
According to NERC, Para-SBEE remitted 71.21 percent of the $4.29m billed, Transcorp-SBEE remitted 100 percent of the $4.25m it was billed; Mainstream-NIGELEC paid 69.72 of $3.59m, and Odukpani-CEET did not remit anything during the period.
In the first quarter, none of the four international bilateral customers being supplied by the power generation companies made payments against the cumulative invoice of $14.19m issued by the market operator for services rendered.
However, NERC noted in the second quarter report, that some bilateral customers, both domestic and international customers, made payments for outstanding invoices from previous quarters.
“Cumulatively, the international bilateral customers paid a total of $16.65m; Transcorp-SBEE and Mainstream-NIGELEC have made payments towards all outstanding invoices from previous quarters.
“The four international bilateral customers being supplied by Gencos in the NESI made a payment of $9.81m against the cumulative invoice of $15.60m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q2, translating to a remittance performance of 62.88 percent”, it said.
The Electricity Regulatory Commission also noted that domestic bilateral customers made a payment of N1.30bn against the cumulative invoice of N1.99bn issued to them by the MO for services rendered in the 2024/second quarter translating to 65.07 percent remittance performance.
While the market operator received N1.30bn from domestic bilateral customers towards outstanding invoices from previous quarters, NERC said the total revenue collected by all Discos in the second quarter of 2024 was N431.16bn out of the N543.64bn that was billed to customers. This translates to a collection efficiency of 79.31 percent.
In contrast, in the first quarter of 2024, all Discos collected total revenue of N291.62bn out of the N368.65bn billed to customers, resulting in a collection efficiency of 79.11 percent.
According to the report, the collection efficiency of 79.31 percent in the second quarter is 0.20pp higher than that of 2024/Q1.
