Mohammed Shosanya
Nigeria has threatened to disconnect Niger,Togo,the Republic of Benin and others on account of unpaid $5.9million(N9.41 billion) electricity bills.
Specifically,the country’s power regulatory body,the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC),lamented that the international customers failed to settle the electricity debt in the second quarter of 2024.
According to NERC,the action of the international debtors could lead to a complete disconnection from the electricity grid.
The regulator’s data earlier showed that these international electricity customers owed the Nigerian government over $51 million in power debt in the first quarter of 2024, but is currently struggling with N9.41bn bill.
Market operators (MO) sent an invoice of $15.60 million to four companies across three countries,the report said, adding that,of this amount, only $9.81 million has been paid.
NERC disclosed that,the companies involved include Paras-SBEE and Transcorp-SBEE from Benin Republic, Mainstream-NIGELEC from Niger, and Odukpani-CEET from Togo.
According to NERC,domestic bilateral customers had not paid N695.4 million out of a total of N1.99 billion during the same period.
The report added: “In 2024/Q2, the four (4) international bilateral customers serviced by the MO made a cumulative payment of $9.81 million against the $15.60 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q2.
“Similarly, the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N1,295.90 million against the cumulative invoice of N1,991.30 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q2.”
The Commission further disclosed that some bilateral customers, both domestic and international, made payments in the second quarter of 2024 to settle outstanding Market Operator (MO) invoices from previous periods.
