Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd has paid only N1m in electricity bills in nine quarters of reporting on the electricity industry by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission.
“During the third quarter, the total invoice issued to international customers and the special customers stood at ₦21 billion. However, no payment was received from these customers during the quarter under review. This time, however, there was a table detailing the invoice sent to Ajaokuta, CEB and Nigelec by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company which purchases power from the generation companies and the market operator, the business arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria that serves as the wholesaler in the industry.In the table, NBET is recorded to have given Ajaokuta N250m in Q4. The data shows MO gave Ajaokuta an invoice of N50m in the quarter as well.
There was no variation in the amount the report said the steel mill and the two foreign firms owed in the first quarter of 2018. The calculation of the figures invoiced by NBET and the Market Operator to the three companies in the table below the above quote tallied up to N12.23bn. “However, while ₦1million was received from Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd, no payment was received from the international customers,” NERC concluded, saying nothing about the unpaid bills piling up in Ajaokuta’s name. Inside the invoice and remittance table, the ‘special’ catatonic ‘customer,’ was billed N270m for the electricity consumed and N50m as service charge from the TCN’s Market Operator— N320m, a contrast of N4m from what the commission said the steel company was invoiced. The N12.
In Q2 2019, the scribes of NERC gaffed again. Above the summary of the invoice and remittance table for distribution companies, the commission said Ajaokuta received N0.32bn or N320m from NBET and the MO.