The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that some of its international customers owe up to $14.19 million in electricity bills for the first quarter of 2024. According to the report, none of the four international customers, which include neighboring 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 ₦1,860.11 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 2 international bilateral customers paid around $5.19 million while 8 bilateral customers within Nigeria paid around ₦505.71 million.
Local Distribution Companies (DisCos) appear to do better with their payments as they were billed a total of ₦114.12 billion for upstream services, which included ₦65.96 billion for generation costs and ₦48.16 billion for transmission and administrative services.
The DisCos collectively paid ₦110.62 billion, leaving an outstanding balance of ₦3.50 billion. This resulted in a remittance performance of 96.93percent, a significant improvement from the 69.88% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Recall, last year, the federal government reported that international electricity consumers failed to pay approximately $51.26 million to Nigeria for electricity exported to them from the country.
