Three of Nigeria’s international customers who were supplied up to 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity in 2018, are still indebted to the country, a quarterly report from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed.
The countries – Togo, Benin and Niger Republics, are represented in the trans-border power trade with Nigeria by two firms – Société Nigérienne d’Electricité, Nigerien Electricity Society (NIGELEC) which is the government firm responsible for electric power generation and transmission in Niger, and Communauté Électrique du Bénin (CEB Sakete) which services both Togo and Benin Republic.
According to the NERC report obtained by THISDAY, the three countries as at September 2018, had not paid any money for electricity sent to them. Cumulatively, their debt to Nigeria’s power market for the first three quarters of 2018 was N37.045 billion ($121.062 million).
The report noted that from January to September, NIGELEC owed N10.086 billion, while CEB Sakete owed N26.959 billion. Both international customers reportedly did not make any attempt to pay for electricity sold to them. Read more