The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has shared its report for the first quarter of 2024 which states that international clients, including Niger Republic, Togo and Benin republic owe an outstanding $14.19 million electricity bills.
This debt accumulation has led to fears about how long Nigeria’s electricity supply will be able to meet the demands of its neighboring countries despite ongoing efforts aimed at recovering the payments.
According to the report not one of the four bilateral customers in relation to power supply made any remittance during the first quarter 2024; however some clients did settle debts from previous periods amounting up-to$5.19 million.
On the other hand, Domestic bilateral customers were still owing N1.86 billion but eight people managed to pay N505.71 million leaving it with a balance of N1.35 billion
An invoice was sent to Distribution Companies (DisCos) which showed that they owe a total amount of N114.12 billion for upstream services against which only 110 .62 billion was paid while 3 .50 billion remained unpaid.
As the data shows, average available generation capacity has dropped significantly during first quarter of 2024 reaching 4249.10 MW due to reduced generation capacities coming from 17 power stations.
In total, there was an overall decrease in power generation by 9.21% (901.94GWh) as a result of decreased generation capacities.
The recommendations made in NERC report emphasize immediate settlement of debts so as to allow sustainable electricity supply for all consumers within this region.
