CBN Orders Banks To Collect Electricity Bills From DisCos
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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks to take responsibility for collecting electricity bill payments.
The apex bank, through its Director of Banking Supervision, Bello Hassan in circular, stated that taking over from electricity distribution companies will improve payment discipline in the industry.
The circular read, “The payment or settlement of all NESI related goods or services shall be made through the Nigerian banking system,”
“Consequently, all collections for the payments of NESI regulated goods and services provided by a DisCo shall be paid into a designated account such that collections arising from services rendered by the DisCo shall be paid into an account in the sole name of the DisCo; collections arising from services rendered by a third party/parties on behalf of the DisCo shall be paid into an account in the joint name of the DisCo and the third-party vendor(s)
“All energy and non-energy collections of DisCos, whether cash or cashless, shall only be performed by deposit money banks (DMBs). No entity shall be permitted to collect revenues for DisCos except if that entity is so authorized by a DMB in line with the relevant CBN guidelines for agent banking and agent banking relationships.
The apex bank also directed that banks providing bank guarantees to Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on behalf of DisCos, would take full responsibility for the collections and the remittances of the DisCos to both NBET and TCN.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no DMB is permitted to open or continue to maintain a collection account for a DisCo without the express no-objection of the DMB that guaranteed its exposure to NBET or TCN,” it said.
The latest quarterly report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), revealed that the collection efficiency by the DisCos is low and has continued to adversely impact the financial liquidity of the industry.
