The shortfall in remittances by power distributors to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Plc and the Market Operator of the sector rose to N326bn between January and September 2021, the Federal Government has said.
Latest data on remittances to the sector by the distribution companies obtained from a Federal Government agency on Monday showed that the 11 Discos failed to remit N287.8bn to NBET during the period.
Also, the power distributors could not remit N38.31bn to the Market Operator in the same period, bringing their cumulative indebtedness to the sector to precisely N325.9bn, according to figures released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The NBET is an agency of the Federal Government that buys electricity in bulk from generation companies through power purchase agreements, and sells it through vesting contracts to distribution companies, which supply to end-users.
The Market Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, is also a Federal Government agency and functions as the administrator/operator of the Nigerian electricity market.
It was learnt that an invoice of N612.26bn was issued by NBET to the 11 Discos as their bill for nine months, but the power firms remitted N324.46bn, leaving a shortfall of N287.8bn. NERC outlined the 11 power distributors to include Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt and Yola.
