Unpaid Electricity Supply: Nigeria Issues Bills Settlement Order to Bénin, Togo
Following a meeting with the Communauté Électrique du Bénin (CEB), an international electricity firm co-owned by the governments of Bénin and Togo, Nigeria has requested the CEB to pay up its outstanding debt for electricity supplied to it.
The federal government has also stated that it needed CEB to settle its outstanding bills to enable it maintain its supplies obligation to both countries.
This development was contained in a document detailing the proceedings of the last meeting of operators in the power sector, which was obtained by THISDAY.
In August, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) disclosed during the monthly meeting of operators in the power sector, that some international customers owe Nigeria about $115.91 million for electricity supplied to them a period of time.
According to the NBET, CEB of Benin Republic and NIGELEC of Niger Republic were indebted to the tune of $101.46 million and $14.45 million, respectively.
Nigeria provides power supply to the two countries through the NBET and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), with power purchased by NBET from the Generation Companies (GenCos) and transmitted to CEB and NIGELEC by the TCN.
However, the minutes stated: “The representative of NBET informed operators that a reconciliation meeting between CEB and NBET was held in Lome, Togo, where CEB was reminded to always make payments as at when due since the market was contract-based.”
“The Nigerian delegation to the meeting also requested CEB to pay the reconciled amount to enable Nigeria meet its obligation of supplying power to them,” the communique added.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed that the federal government will not interfere in the new metering arrangement between electricity distribution companies (Discos) and their customers.
Fashola, however stated that the government will monitor the progress of the arrangement through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to avoid possible instances of exploitation.
Quoting him, the minutes of the meeting said: “He noted that after the decision taken to wind down CAPMI, some Discos had explained that their customers still wanted to pay for their meters based on certain agreements.
“He stated that the federal
The Chairman of Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina has stated that the safety standards and procedures at the company have helped the nation’s largest power plant record incident free operations over the last 827 days.
Speaking to journalists on Egbin’s “Safety Report”, Adesina said the power plant operates in line with globally acclaimed standards for Health, Safety, Security and the Environment and requires staff and stakeholders to abide by its zero tolerance policy on safety infractions.
“Since we took over the plant in 2013 we have continued to enhance the plant’s HSSE profile through investments in safety equipment and training.
For us at Egbin, ensuring safety at all cost is a non-negotiable policy and we are delighted with the progress we have made in this regard and it gives us the impetus to sustain ongoing transformation and preparation for future expansion of the plant,” he said.
He said Egbin’s safety records had been severally commended by various postprivatization monitoring team and other regulatory agencies following inspection visits.
“At Egbin, every staff is a Safety Ambassador. We demand the same level of commitment from all our partners and stakeholders and remain confident that HSSE issues will always be paramount in our operations,” he added. Speaking on the need for collaboration across the sector’s value chain, Adesina said this would help operators and regulators effectively address the challenges of the power sector.
“What we need right now is generation, transmission and distribution working together to achieve the ultimate goal of improved power supply. We have witnessed continuing improvement across the value chain and we need to keep up the momentum and close our ranks where we have gaps to drive better power supply.
Issues bordering on unutilised energy, load shedding and optimised load picking can be better managed by the operators to ensure the system maintains a balance that enhances productivity and sustainability,” he explained.
“We should all work as partners in the power sector as the nation is counting on us to make the system work. At Egbin, we remain committed to spearheading intra and inter sectoral collaborative efforts to move the power sector ahead.
This will require the support of the government, regulators, operators, local/foreign investors, electricity consumers and civil societies,” he added.
Adesina explained that an analysis of operations across the value chain clearly reveals the need for the sector to address and correct the price differential between the actual cost of electricity and current price regimes. “Another important factor that is responsible for the high price of electricity is the lack of conservation. It is imperative for the sector to embark on sustained advocacy and awareness campaigns that will encourage people to embrace conservation and shun energy theft as well as illegal connections “
He commended the Ministry of Power, regulators and operators for on-going deliberations aimed at moving the sector forward while acknowledging government’s on-going massive investments to shore up transmission and ensure that power generated gets to the end-users. He equally acknowledged ongoing strengthening of the distribution network to allow for seamless delivery of power to all electricity consumers..
“All hands are on deck to ensure regular power supply to Nigerians and I have no doubt that the power sector will record fast paced improvement in our quest for sustainable power with more investments which can only be driven by the right policies, pricing and personnel.” Adesina said.