The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed that international customers failed to settle a $14.19 million electricity debt for the first quarter of 2024.
According to NERC’s report, none of the four international customers—including neighboring countries such as Benin Republic, Niger, and Togo—made any payments for the electricity exported to them.
The report states, “In 2024/Q1, none of the four international bilateral customers serviced by the Market Operator (MO) made any payment against the $14.19 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in Q1 2024. Similarly, none of the bilateral customers within Nigeria made any payment against the cumulative invoice of ₦1,860.11 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered during the same period.”
The report also highlights that both local and international bilateral electricity customers made payments for previous quarters owed. It noted that two international bilateral customers paid approximately $5.19 million, while eight bilateral customers within Nigeria paid around ₦505.71 million.
Discos’ Remittance Performance in Q1 2024
During the first quarter of 2024, Distribution Companies (DisCos) in Nigeria were billed a total of ₦114.12 billion for upstream services, including ₦65.96 billion for generation costs and ₦48.16 billion for transmission and administrative services.
The DisCos collectively remitted ₦110.62 billion, leaving an outstanding balance of ₦3.50 billion. This resulted in a remittance performance of 96.93%, a significant improvement from the 69.88% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Power Generation Declines by 13%
The report also noted a decline in power generation, with the average available generation capacity across all power plants in Nigeria dropping to 4,249.10 MW in Q1 2024—a decrease of 13.68% (or 673.16 MW) compared to the 4,922.26 MW recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The decline was attributed to reduced generation capacities at 17 of the 27 grid-connected power plants during Q1 2024, compared to the previous quarter.
The report stated, “In Q1 2024, the average hourly generation of available units decreased by 8.22% (or 364.25 MWh/h) from 4,433.82 MWh/h in Q4 2023 to 4,069.57 MWh/h. The total electricity generated in the quarter also decreased by 9.21% (or 901.94 GWh) from 9,789.87 GWh in Q4 2023 to 8,887.93 GWh. The decrease in gross energy generation during the quarter was primarily due to the reduced generation capacities of the grid-connected power plants compared to Q4 2023.”
Background and Regulatory Measures
Last year, the Nigerian federal government reported that international electricity consumers owed approximately $51.26 million for electricity exported to them.
In May 2024, the federal government issued a mandate to system operators in the Nigerian power industry, limiting the supply of electricity to international customers to no more than 6% of the total available grid generation per hour.
In a recent directive, NERC criticized the practice of prioritizing international customers while limiting the offtake by Nigerian Distribution Companies (DisCos) during grid imbalances, calling it inefficient and unfair. Under the new order, electricity generation companies are required to allocate no more than 10% of their generation capacity to international off-takers over the next six months.
