Benin And Togo Owe Nigeria $5.79 Million For Power Supply In Q2 2024

In the second quarter of 2024, international electricity customers in Benin Republic and Togo owe Nigeria $5.79 million for the energy used, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed.

The international customers paid $9.81 million out of the total invoice of $15.60 million issued by the market operator between April and June, The Guardian reported.

The foreign companies that purchase power from Nigeria include Para-SBEE in Benin Republic, which owes $1.23 million, Transcorp-SBEE in Benin, Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo, which owes $1.09 million and Odukpani-CEET in Togo, which owes $3.47 million.

Para-SBEE in Benin Republic paid 71.21% of the $4.29 million it was billed, while Transcorp-SBEE in Benin paid 100% of the $4.25 million it owed. Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo paid 69.72% of the $3.59 million it was billed, but Odukpani-CEET did not make any payments during this period.

In the first quarter, it was reported that none of the four international customers receiving power from the generation companies made payments on the total invoice of $14.19 million issued for services provided.

The Q2 report mentioned that some bilateral customers, both domestic and international, made payments for outstanding invoices from previous quarters.

"Cumulatively, the international bilateral customers paid a total of $16.65m; Transcorp-SBEE and Mainstream-NIGELEC have made payments towards all outstanding invoices from previous quarters," the report mentioned, as per Punch.

"The four international bilateral customers being supplied by Gencos in the NESI made a payment of $9.81m against the cumulative invoice of $15.60m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q2, translating to a remittance performance of 62.88%."

The NERC reported that domestic bilateral customers paid N1.30 billion out of a total invoice of N1.99 billion issued for services in the second quarter of 2024. This means they had a remittance performance of 65.07%.

The market operator also received N1.30 billion from these customers for outstanding invoices from previous quarters. Mainstream Energy Solutions was noted to have paid off all outstanding invoices from earlier quarters.

Regarding electricity subsidies, the federal government's obligation decreased by N253.24 billion from N633.30 billion (which was 90.57% of the total generation company invoice) to N380.06 billion (52.51% of the total generation company invoice) between the first and second quarters of 2024.

The commission revealed that all distribution companies (Discos) collected a total of N431.16 billion in the second quarter of 2024, out of N543.64 billion billed to customers, resulting in a collection efficiency of 79.31%.

In the first quarter of 2024, the total revenue collected by all Discos was N291.62 billion from N368.65 billion billed, giving a collection efficiency of 79.11%. The collection efficiency in the second quarter was 0.20 percentage points higher than in the first quarter.

Last month, the federal government announced that it would soon release $800 million under the Presidential Power Initiative to improve the country's power supply.