Togo, Benin owe Nigeria $14m for electricity – FG
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed that none of the four international bilateral customers receiving power from Nigerian generation companies paid the cumulative invoice of $14.19 million issued by the market operator for services provided in the first quarter of 2024.
The report, published by NERC, highlights that Nigeria supplies electricity to neighboring countries, including Benin, Togo, and Niger.
The international customers who owe the Nigerian electricity supply industry are Para-SBEE in Benin Republic ($3.15 million), Transcorp-SBEE in Benin Republic ($4.46 million), Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo ($1.21 million), and Odukpani-CEET in Togo ($5.36 million).
According to the NERC report, none of these four international customers made any payments for the electricity exported to them.
The report indicates that both local and international bilateral electricity customers made payments for outstanding debts from previous quarters. Two international customers paid approximately $5.19 million, while eight local customers settled around N505.71 million.
In the first quarter of 2024, Distribution Companies (DisCos) were billed N114.12 billion for upstream services, covering generation, transmission, and administrative costs. The DisCos paid N110.62 billion, achieving a remittance rate of 96.93%, a marked improvement from the 69.88% recorded in the previous quarter.
The report also highlighted a decrease in the average available generation capacity, which dropped to 4,249.10MW in Q1 2024—a 13.68% reduction from the 4,922.26MW reported in the fourth quarter of 2023. This decline was attributed to reduced capacities in 17 of the 27 grid-connected power plants during the period.
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 N1,860.11 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q1.”
“In 2024/Q1, the average hourly generation of available units decreased by -8.22% (-364.25MWh/h) from 4,433.82MWh/h in 2023/Q4 to 4,069.57MWh/h. The total electricity generated in the quarter also decreased by -9.21% 1 (- 901.94GWh) from 9,789.87GWh in 2023/Q4 to 8,887.93GWh (Figure B).
“The decrease in gross energy generation during the quarter was primarily due to the decrease in the available generation capacities of the grid-connected power plants compared to 2023/Q4.”
