The unpaid electricity bills of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government, comprising military and para-military organisations have surpassed N90bn.
It was learnt that though dialogues were ongoing regarding its settlement, the debt had continued to pile up over the years since the power sector was privatised in November 2013.
Saturday PUNCH reports that Power distribution companies reported that the humongous debt had put severe financial pressure on the books of Discos, influencing negatively on their operations.
Nigeria has 11 power distribution companies. The firms arose after the unbundling of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria into successor generation, transmission, and distribution companies in November 2013.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria abandons electricity generated by power generation companies to the 11 Discos, who allocate the product by selling it to end-users for revenue generation for the power value chain.
But the Discos, over time, have been complaining of the failure of some end-users to pay their electricity bills, particularly ministries, departments, and agencies of the Federal Government.
Under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, the Discos noted that the indebtedness of MDAs to the power sector in terms of unpaid electricity bills was now more than N90bn.
The Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, told our correspondent that the indebtedness of MDAs had lingered and that the unpaid bills had been increasing since November 2013.
He stated, “All MDAs’ debt is over N90bn, and the military is part of that. We came on board in 2013, and since then, how much has been paid by the MDAs?
“There was a time when a former minister of power said they (government) had concluded arrangement on how to settle the debt, but as I speak with you, the bills are still there unpaid. Since privatisation, there have been issues around MDAs debt.”
Oduntan reported that the current government had assured Discos that the debt would be settled, adding that discussions on how the bills would be cleared were ongoing.
He indicated optimism that the discussion would yield desired results as the N90bn debt had stalled some growth in the country’s power supply business.
The ANED’s executive stated, “However, I can confirm that the current government is working now to sort out the MDAs debt. It (government) has recognised that fact as well as the need for the debt to be paid.”
He added, “It (government) is looking at how to structure the debt, and I can confirm that this is ongoing.”
Asked to tell what some of the MDAs owe the power sector, Oduntan replied, “I cannot tell the amount that each particular ministry or agency owes now, but their lump debt is in excess of N90bn.”
International and local consumers of electricity produced in Nigeria often fall short of making payments as and when due for the electricity they consume.
