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By Daniel Adaji
The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) recorded a market debt of N29.92bn in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) accessed on Monday.
The debt arose from the failure of Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to fully remit payments for electricity supply and transmission services.
The report, published pursuant to Section 34(1)(e) of the Electricity Act 2023, highlights NESI’s operational and commercial performance, providing insight into generation capacity, market remittances, and financial obligations.
During Q4 2024, NESI operated with 28 grid-connected power plants, including 19 gas, five hydro, two steam, and two gas/steam-powered plants. The average available generation capacity increased by 195.98MW (+3.84%) to 5,296.89MW from 5,100.90MW recorded in Q3 2024.
However, quarterly electricity generation declined by 160.81GWh (-1.70%) from 9,450.76GWh in Q3 to 9,289.95GWh in Q4. The decrease was attributed to a lower energy offtake by DisCos and other grid-connected customers.
Recall that the national grid experienced three total collapses and two partial collapses during the quarter. The partial collapses occurred on October 14 and November 5, while total collapses were recorded on October 19, November 7, and December 11.
“As contained in section 20.1 of the Grid Code, the SO is expected to submit to the Commission a detailed report containing the root causes of the incidents leading to the system disruptions and mitigation plans to avoid a recurrence of similar incidents,” the report stated.
DisCos’ average energy offtake stood at 3,360.77MWh/h, representing a 94.61 per cent offtake performance. However, this was a 2.45 per cent decline from Q3’s 3,445.13MWh/h.
Billing efficiency improved slightly to 83.66 per cent, up from 82.15 per cent in Q3. DisCos billed customers for 6,207.84GWh out of the 7,420.58GWh they received.
Collection efficiency also increased to 77.44 per cent as DisCos collected N509.84bn out of the N658.40bn billed to customers, marking a 2.89 percentage-point rise from Q3’s 74.55 per cent .
Despite these gains, Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collection losses remained high at 35.22 per cent, translating to N139.08bn in lost revenue.
While this was an improvement from 39.10 per cent in Q3, it still exceeded the MYTO target of 24.78 per cent.
Notably, only Yola and Eko DisCos met their ATC&C loss targets, while Kaduna DisCo recorded the worst performance, with an actual ATC&C loss of 60.65 per cent against a target of 25.00 per cent.
DisCos were billed N408.86bn in Q4 for energy supply and services, comprising N360.97bn for energy from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and N47.89bn for Market Operator transmission and administrative services.
However, total remittances stood at N378.93bn (N336.63bn for NBET and N42.30bn for MO), leaving an outstanding balance of N29.92bn.
Remittance performance improved to 92.68 per cent in Q4, compared to 83.77 per cent in Q3. The report also noted that international bilateral customers paid $5.21m against the $14.05m invoiced to them, while domestic bilateral customers paid N1,252.58m out of the N1.97bn billed.
The Commission continues to emphasised the need for financial discipline in the sector.
“The Commission monitors the financial performance of the NESI to ensure an efficient flow of cash along the value chain to guarantee the sustainability of the industry,” NERC stated in its report.