business
PowerUp Nigeria Criticizes Delay in Activating Consumer Assistance Fund
Amid ongoing financial challenges in Nigeria’s electricity supply sector, Federal Government subsidies to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) escalated to N1.92 trillion last year.
Despite this, distribution companies (DisCos) have struggled to meet their financial obligations, remitting only N336.6 billion out of a total N832.6 billion invoice in Q4 2024, according to a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
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PowerUp Nigeria has expressed disappointment over the Federal Government’s inability to operationalize the Power Consumer Assistance Fund (PCAF) by Q1 2025. The Executive Director, PowerUp Nigeria, Adetayo Adegbemle, highlighted the deepening instability in the sector, with subsidies soaring to N200 billion monthly and power generation companies (GenCos) receiving just 39% of their invoices as of December 2024.
Adegbemle emphasized the importance of swift intervention through an emergency liquidity facility backed by multilateral development partners or sovereign guarantees. He proposed that DisCos’ revenue from higher-paying customer segments should be allocated to settling GenCos’ invoices to ensure payment compliance and restore investor confidence.
Additionally, reports reveal that foreign countries supplied with power from Nigeria’s generation companies paid only 37% of their $14.05 million bill during Q4 2024. This has added another layer of concern to the liquidity crisis in the sector.
