By Francis Ajuonuma
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has disclosed that Benin Republic and Togo owe Nigeria $8.84m for the electricity consumed in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The electricity regulatory body made this known in the 2024 quarter four report by the market operator.
According to the report, Gencos’s six international bilateral customers in the Nigerian electricity supply industry “made a payment of $5.21m against the cumulative invoice of $14.05m issued by the Market Operator for services rendered in 2024/Q4,” amounting to a remittance performance of 37.08 per cent.
The international companies are Paras-SBEE in the Benin Republic ($2.65m), Paras-CEET also in Benin ($1.64m), Transcorp-SBEE (Ughelli) in Benin ($1.71m out of $3.59m), Transcorp-SBEE (Afam 3) ($0.90m out of its $1.2m invoice), and Odukpani-CEET in Togo, which owes $2.37m.
The NERC’s report showed that only Mainstream-NIGELEC cleared the entire $2.60m invoice issued to the company by the market operator.
NERC added that the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N1.25 million against the invoice of N1.98 million issued to them by the market operator for services rendered in the last quarter of 2024, translating to a 63.36 per cent remittance performance.
“Notably, some bilateral (domestic and international customers) made payments during 2024/Q4 for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters. Paras-CEET, Pars-SBEE and Transcorp-SBEE made payments of $0.98m, $0.7m, and $1.3m towards outstanding invoices of earlier quarters.
“Similarly, the MO received N135.81m from the domestic bilateral customers [NDPHC-Weewood: N21.17m; North-South/Star Pipe: N11m; Taopex: N83m; and Trans-Amadi (OAU/FMPI): N20.74m) towards outstanding invoices from previous quarters,” it disclosed.
The regulator reports that the unique customer, Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd., and the host community did not make any payment towards the N1.27bn (NBET) and N0.11bn (MO) invoices received in 2024/Q4.
The NERC also stated in the document that electricity distribution companies in Nigeria generated N509.84bn in the last three months of 2024.
It said this represents 77.44 per cent of the N658.40bn billed to customers in the fourth quarter of last year.
“The 77.44 per cent collection efficiency recorded in 2024/Q4 is +2.89 pp higher than the collection efficiency recorded in 2024/Q3,” the NERC said.
*Confirm installation of 185,439 meters in Nigeria in 2024/Q4
Meanwhile, NERC yesterday said that the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) installed a total of 185,439 meters in the fourth quarter of 2024.
NERC announced this on its 2024 Fourth Quarter Report, published on its website in Abuja.
The report shows a marginal increase of 0.19 percent compared to the third quarter of 2024, when 185,087 meters were installed.
The report noted that the new installations increased the net end-user metering rate across all DisCos by 0.42 percentage points (PP).
It said the number of installed meters rose from 46.15 percent in the third quarter of the period under review to 46.57 percent in the fourth quarter.
“During the quarter, 179,064 meters, representing 96.56 per cent of the total installations, were installed under the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) framework while 4,076 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF).
” Also, 1,924 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework, while 374 meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework,” it said.
NERC emphasised that the DisCos were expected to utilise all available frameworks outlined in the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations and the MAF to bridge the existing metering gap.
According to the report, the commission certified 18 Meter Service Providers (MSPs), six-meter installer companies, six manufacturers, three vendors, and three importers in quarter four of 2024.
It added that NERC also issued 15 permits for MAP in the period under review.
“As a safeguard against customer exploitation due to lack of meters, the commission continues to enforce monthly energy caps for all feeders under each DisCo.
“This sets the maximum energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the month. This is based on the gross energy received by the DisCo and consumption by metered customers on their respective feeders,” the report said.
