International electricity customers paid the sum of N56.830 billion to the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, market operator, between January and December 2019 as energy and administrative charges, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said yesterday
The customers include Societe Nigerienne d’electricite (NIGELEC) and Communaute Electrique du Benin (CEB).
Specifically, the commission said the customers paid the sum of NN10.26 billion and N2.98 billion to the two agencies respectively in the last quarter of the year, while the sum of N33.85 billion and N9.84 billion was paid between the first and third quarters of 2019.
DAILY INDEPENDENT obtained these figures in the commission’s website yesterday, wherein it quoted the Federal Government as saying that it had continued to engage the governments of neighbouring countries benefitting from the export supply to ensure timely payments for the electricity purchased from Nigeria.
The commission disclosed that the total revenue collected by 11DisCos from customers in the fourth quarter of 2019 stood at ₦127.14 billion out of the total billing of ₦183.10 billion.
It added that due to the increase in the billing efficiency recorded in 2019/Q4 relative to the preceding quarter, the total revenue collected as a ratio of the total billing by DisCos , collection efficiency, in 2019/Q4 slightly increased when compared to 2019/Q3.
It said: “The collection efficiency implies that for every ₦10.00 worth of energy billed to customers by DisCos in the third quarter, ₦3.06 remained unrecovered from customers as and when due.
“Notwithstanding its increase from the preceding quarter, the collection efficiency by the DisCos is still low and has continued to adversely impact the financial liquidity of the industry which, in turn, has led to low investment in Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry.”
Appraising the performances of the individual power distribution companies in the last quarter, the commission disclosed that Ikeja DisCo had the highest collection efficiency of 87.35%, followed by Eko DisCo with 84.28%, adding that Kaduna DisCo had the lowest collection efficiency of 40.44%.
