The 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) operating in Nigeria have not settled a debt of N243bn for power supplied by 25 Generating Companies (GenCos) as at the end of 2016.

Latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that DisCos paid N88 billion out of invoice of N331bn issued to them by GenCos last year, leaving a debt of N243bn.

The Daily Trust reports that the mostly privatised power sector has faced acute illiquidity in the year with a shortfall of over N803bn by December, a development operators blamed on poor power supply, energy theft, and gas pipeline vandalisms for the vacuum created in the cost of recovering electricity production.

The NBS report released at the weekend indicated that the highest invoice of N38.1bn was issued in October 2016 out of the values of all invoices issued last year.

Analysis showed that of the N88.1bn paid by the DisCos during the period, the highest payment of N10.8bn invoice by the DisCos was made in January 2016.

The lowest payment for power generation was N5.5bn in June when the national grid dipped to as low as 97megawatts (mw) severally, being the worst month of power supply for Nigerians in 2016, separate power generation statistics from the Nigerian System Operator (NSO) revealed.

Analysis of the N243bn balance of payment for power generated in 2016 shows that the DisCos have more unpaid debt in October 2016 when the debts crept to N29.5bn. In September, the debts were at N27.5bn but the lowest debts were incurred in April when they had an unpaid balance.
Daily Trust