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Adewale Sanyaolu
The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company has denied a news report which listed the company as one of the distribution companies (Discos) that failed to remit payment of bulk energy for last January.
The company’s Chief Legal Officer, Wola Joseph-Ojoye, said contrary to the report, the company has been consistent in the settlement of energy invoices from Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) from month to month.
NBET had, in its January 2018 market report on the monthly remittance of monies due to it, explained that an invoice of N44.85 billion was sent to the 11 Discos, out of which only N6.08 billion was received by NBET from the January invoice. NBET said this represented just 13.58 per cent of the invoice.
Going further, NBET explained that the Discos’ payments for the January invoice amounted to N2.70 billion, but that it got a N3.37 billion payment from them as late payment for December invoice, which brought the total payment to N6.08 billion in January.
Eko Disco, however, explained that an energy invoice for the previous month usually comes towards the end of the following month with the invoice bearing a due date for payment.
The bill for January 2018, according to Eko Disco, was received on February 26, 2018 and payment was made by the company on March 6, 2018 which was before the payment due date.
The statement said the error would have been averted if the media platforms that published the report had crosschecked their facts with the company, advising that proper clarification of reports of this nature should be done before publication to avoid misleading the reading public with misinformation and half-truths.
The company also stated that it holds the media in high esteem as veritable partners and stakeholders in all its activities and operations, adding that being a customer-centric utility company, it owes its customers and members of the public the duty to communicate the true position of the company on any matter.
Daily Sun had last month, reported a recent warning letter to power generation companies (Gencos) for termination of gas supplies contract over mounting debt.
It was revealed that the precarious situation of the Gencos was further compounded by the 92 per cent payment shortfall made to them by NBET for December 2017 electricity market payments.
Confirming the developments to Daily Sun in a telephone interview, Executive Secretary of the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Dr. Joy Ogaji, admitted the 92 per cent payment shortfall for Genco invoices for December, stressing that only a paltry 8.25 per cent payment was actually made by NBET.
According to the December 2017 electricity market payments released by NBET yesterday, the 25 Genco invoices for December 2017 amounted to N54,242,749,563.22 while payment made was N4,476,404,925.21 representing 8.25 per cent of total bill. But NBET, in an explanatory note, stated that the payments made to Gencos were as a result of receipts from the Distribution Companies (Discos).
