•Foreign customers’ debt grows by $8.84m
By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja
With outstanding Federal Government subsidies to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) reaching N1.92 trillion last year and distribution companies (DisCos) struggling to improve revenue collection, PowerUp Nigeria has expressed concern about Federal Government’s failure to activate the Power Consumer Assistance Fund (PCAF) by the first quarter of 2025, calling it a major setback in resolving Nigeria’s electricity liquidity crisis.
Two days ago, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in its Q4 2024 electricity sector report, revealed that DisCos remitted only N336.6 billion out of the total N832.6 billion invoice from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET). The DisCos’ Remittance Obligation (DRO) for the quarter stood at N360.9 billion.
In a note to Vanguard, the Executive Director, PowerUp Nigeria, Adetayo Adegbemle explained that the continuing delay in activating PCAF puts the sector deeper into financial crisis.
According to him, “With subsidies ballooning to N200 billion monthly and GenCos receiving only 39 percent of their invoices by December 2024, the sector risks deeper instability. However, this delay need not spell collapse. A combination of adaptive policies, stakeholder collaboration, and accelerated reforms can still steer the sector toward recovery.
“To bridge the PCAF gap, the government must immediately establish an emergency liquidity facility backed by multilateral development partners or sovereign guarantees.
This fund could temporarily cover a portion of the subsidy burden while fast-tracking PCAF’s operationalization. Simultaneously, NERC should mandate DisCos to ring-fence revenue from Band-A customers (who pay higher tariffs) exclusively for settling GenCos’ invoices, ensuring at least 50% payment compliance. Such measures would prevent further erosion of investor confidence and keep gas suppliers engaged”.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that foreign countries supplied by power generation companies in Nigeria paid just 37 percent of the $14.05 million worth of power sent to them.
According to the NER report, six international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in NESI made a payment of $5.21 million against the cumulative invoice of $14.05 issued by the Market Operator, MO, for services rendered in Q4 2024.
The post PowerUp bemoans FG’s failure to activate Consumer Assistance Fund appeared first on Vanguard News.
kr9fxe