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In the first quarter 2022, the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) failed to remit N69.94 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) and the Market Operator (MO), The Nation learnt on Thursday.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) broke the news in its Q1 2022 report, which our correspondent obtained in Abuja.
The report recalled that due to the absence of cost reflective tariffs across all DisCos, the government was saddled with a subsidy obligation of N38.27 billion over the three months of Q1 2022 which translates to N12.76 billion per month.
According to the commission, combined Minimum Remittance Order (MRO) adjusted invoices from NBET & MO to DisCos in 2022/Q1 was M205.63billion (N164.86 billion for NBET and N40.77 billion for MO) for generation cost as well as transmission and administrative services.
NERC however said: “Out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total of N135.69 billion (N109.96 billion for NBET and N25.73 billion for MO), creating a total deficit of N69.94 billion and translating to a remittance performance of 65.99% during the quarter.”
The report explained that in the absence of cost-reflective tariffs, the Government undertakes to cover the resultant gap (between the cost-reflective and allowed tariff) in the form of tariff shortfall funding.
This funding, it said, is applied to the NBET invoices that are to be paid by DisCos.
It added that the amount to be covered by the DisCo is based on the allowed tariff determined by the Commission and set out as their Minimum Remittance Obligation (MRO) in the periodic Multi Year Tarrif Orders (MYTOs) issued by the Commission.
In the quarter under review, NERC said no payment was made by the special customer (Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and the host community) in respect of the ₦0.38 billion and ₦0.07 billion market invoices issued by NBET and MO respectively in 2022/Q1.
The report noted that in the same period, bilateral customers; Paras-SBEE, Transcorp-SBEE, and Mainstream-NIGERLEC received invoices of $2.72 million, $2.74 million and $4.61 million from the MO and each remitted $2.72 million (100%), $2.74 million (100%), and $4.52 million (98%) respectively.
According to the commission, Odukpani-CEET received an invoice of $3.42 million from the MO during the period but no payment was made by this customer.
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