N one of the four international bilateral customers receiving electricity from Nigerian power generation companies made payments against a cumulative invoice of $14.19 million issued by the Market Operator for services rendered in the first quarter of 2024. This information was revealed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in a recent report obtained by our correspondent.
The report highlighted that the foreign companies in question include Para-SBEE in Benin Republic, with an outstanding balance of $3.15 million; Transcorp-SBEE in Benin, owing $4.46 million; Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo, which owes $1.21 million; and Odukpani-CEET in Togo, with a balance of $5.36 million.
In addition to these international defaults, NERC noted that no payments were made by bilateral customers within Nigeria against the cumulative invoice of N1.86 million issued by the Market Operator for the same period.
However, the report did acknowledge that some bilateral customers, both local and international, made payments during the quarter for outstanding debts from previous quarters. Specifically, two international customers paid a total of $5.96 million, while eight local bilateral customers remitted N505.71 million toward debts incurred before Q1 2024.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission expressed concern over what it termed "payment indiscipline" exhibited by these customers. The commission expects the Market Operator to invoke the provisions of the market rules to address this issue.
This situation follows a pattern of non-payment by international consumers, who reportedly failed to remit approximately $51.26 million to Nigeria for electricity exported in 2023. Additionally, bilateral power consumers within Nigeria did not remit about N7.61 billion to the national power sector in the same year.
NERC condemned this ongoing trend, calling on the Market Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to enforce stricter measures to ensure timely payments and maintain the financial health of Nigeria’s power sector. An analysis of industry data revealed that international consumers failed to remit $16.11 million, $11.97 million, $11.16 million, and $12.02 million to Nigeria for electricity exported during the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively.
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