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Power firms got N11bn from government in June

By BusinessNews Staff on July 10, 2014

The Federal Government last month disbursed over N11bn as settlements to market participants in the Nigerian electricity supply industry for the month of April.

It said the disbursement was made through the new payment system, the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System-PowerCollect, which was inaugurated by the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, at the headquarters of the Transmission Company of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Executive Director, Market Operations, TCN, Mr. Jang Bagnall, said in a document obtained by our correspondent that the disbursement was done during a pilot test of the automated payment system.

The NIBSS, he said, was developed in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria to clear the arrears of payment for the power generation and distribution companies as well as other agencies in the electricity supply industry.

The document stated in part, “The Market Operator has been working with its technical partners since December 2013 to get this system up and we are proud to announce that working with the NIBSS, we have been able to process payments for the April settlement period; disbursing over N11bn in payments to the NESI.

“We are happy to say that the pilot went smoothly with automated notifications sent out to participants in preparation for settlement. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, on June 13, 2014, all market participants were paid in a timely manner, with system generated alerts, notification and online view.”

Speaking at the inauguration, the Director, Market Operations, TCN, Mrs. Ngozi Osuhor, said the NIBSS-PowerCollect Command Centre at the company would provide real-time visibility for the health of Nigeria’s electricity grid.

She said, “It will ensure visibility for all key infrastructure like meters, transformers, transmission lines and many others. It will also provide a world class communication system to ensure that with the Transition Electricity Market, the meters support reliable data aggregation.”

Osuhor noted that the newly inaugurated Operations Control and Market Support Centre would provide the needed support to the market in the interim period and the near future.

In his address, Nebo said the power sector payment solution was the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.

“You (TCN) have taken a definite step towards the future. You have gone ahead to develop a world class solution for the sector; the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa,” the minister said.

[Punch]

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