FG Shares Details as Three African Countries Owe Nigeria Over $8m in Electricity Bills

• The NERC has revealed that three African countries owe Nigeria over $8 million in electricity bill
• The commission said the amount was for electricity supply for the fourth quarter of 2024 to the countries
• Nigeria currently supplies electricity to Benin, Niger, and Togo as part of its international electricity exports

Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of business journalism experience with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that Niger Republic, Benin Republic, and Togo owe Nigeria $8.84 million (N13.45 billion) for electricity consumed in the fourth quarter of 2024.

This was contained in a recent report by NERC, which detailed the remittances made by both domestic and international customers.

The three countries buy electricity from Nigeria through Paras-SBEE and Transcorp-SBEE from Benin Republic, Mainstream-NIGELEC in Niger, and Odukpani-CEET from Togo.

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African countries owe Nigeria $8 million

A breakdown of the debt showed that six international bilateral customers, supplied by Nigerian power generation companies (GenCos), paid only $5.21 million out of the $14.05 million billed, representing a remittance performance of 37.08%.

Among the international customers, Paras-SBEE in Benin Republic paid $2.65 million, while Paras-CEET, also in Benin, remitted $1.64 million. Transcorp-SBEE (Ughelli) in Benin settled $1.71 million of its $3.59 million invoice, while Transcorp-SBEE (Afam 3) paid $0.90 million out of $1.2 million.

Odukpani-CEET in Togo remains indebted with an outstanding balance of $2.37 million.

The report further indicated that only Mainstream-NIGELEC fully cleared its invoice, making a complete payment of $2.60 million to the market operator.

NERC also revealed that domestic bilateral customers in Nigeria paid N1.25 billion out of the N1.98 billion billed in Q4 2024, representing a remittance rate of 63.36%.

Some customers, both domestic and international, made additional payments for outstanding invoices from previous quarters.

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Paras-CEET, Paras-SBEE, and Transcorp-SBEE contributed $0.98 million, $0.7 million, and $1.3 million, respectively, towards past debts.

Electricity debts owed by customers in Nigeria

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s special customer, Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, along with its host community, failed to make any payments towards their N1.27 billion invoice from the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and an additional N0.11 billion invoice from the Market Operator.

NERC described this as a “longstanding trend of non-payment” and called on the federal government to intervene.

On the domestic front, Nigerian electricity distribution companies (DisCos) generated N509.84 billion in revenue in Q4 2024, achieving a 77.44% collection efficiency from the N658.40 billion billed to customers.

This marked an improvement from Q3 2024, when DisCos collected N466.69 billion out of N626.02 billion, reflecting a collection efficiency of 74.55%.

NERC stated:

“The 77.44% collection efficiency recorded in Q4 2024 is 2.89 percentage points higher than the 74.55% recorded in Q3 2024.”

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FG approves hike in prepaid meter prices

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Ikeja Electric announced an approved price increase for single-phase and three-phase prepaid meters.

The company said all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) were expected to implement the increase.

In a notice shared with its customers, Ikeja Electric stated that all prices are valid subject to meter availability.

Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng