Nigeria’s West African neighbours – Togo, Benin and Niger – received a total invoice of N32.04 billion for the electricity supplied to them by the country in 2019, latest data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed.
Nigeria sells electricity to the three countries, which are categorised as international customers, through some of its power plants.
Societe Nigerienne d’electricite, Niger’s power firm, received an invoice totalling N3.01 billion for electricity supply from Nigeria in the first quarter of last year, N3.69 billion in the second quarter, N4.1 billion in the third quarter and N2.07 billion in the fourth quarter.
Communaute Electrique du Benin, which is jointly owned by Benin and Togo, received a total invoice of N9.74 billion for electricity supply from Nigeria in Q1 2019, N7.16 billion in Q2 and N2.74 billion for Q3. It did not receive any for Q4.
NERC’s quarterly reports for 2019 showed that the international customers did not make any payments in all the four quarters of last year.
“During the quarter under review, the special and international class of customers made no payment to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator,” NERC’s Q4 2019 report said.
“The Federal Government has continued to engage the governments of neighbouring countries benefitting from the export supply to ensure timely payments for the electricity purchased from Nigeria,” it added.
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Usman Mohammed, the immediate past Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said in March that power supply to Benin and Togo was stopped in October 2019 because of their failure to pay their debts.
He disclosed that the quantity of electricity being sold to international customers was about 300 megawatts, with Togo receiving supply from Calabar Power Plant, Benin from Paras Energy & Natural Resources Development Limited, and Niger from Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited.
In line with the framework of the country’s power industry, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc – which is owned by the Nigerian government – purchases electricity from power generating firms via Power Purchase Agreements and sells same to Discos by means of vesting contracts.
The financial viability of the supply segment of the Nigerian power sector is a major challenge threatening its sustainability according to NERC.
“As highlighted in the preceding quarterly reports, the liquidity challenge is partly due to the non-implementation of cost-reflective tariffs, high technical and commercial losses exacerbated by energy theft and consumers’ apathy to payments under the widely prevailing practice of estimated billing.
“The severity of the liquidity challenge in the industry was reflected in the settlement rates of the energy invoices issued by NBET to each of the Discos, as well as the non-payment by the special and international customers,” NERC said.
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