CBN directs banks to take over collection of electricity bills

The deposit money banks (DMBs) providing bank guarantees to Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on behalf of the Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) has been directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take full responsibility for collections of the Discos’ bills.

The directive on electricity bill collections, whose implementation is with immediate effect, was contained in a letter addressed to all banks, dated August 21, 2020, that was signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, CBN, Mr. Bello Hassan.

In the circular titled, ‘DMB-led Electricity Market Collections,’ the CBN said the move was in line with a directive of the Power Sector Coordination Working Group to improve payment discipline in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and to boost the overall quality of electricity generation, transmission and distribution.

The CBN stated that no bank should open or continue to maintain a collection account for a Disco without the express no-objection of the bank that guaranteed the power company’s exposure to NBET or TCN.

The directive also stated that the payment or settlement of all NESI-related goods or services shall be made through the 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 and 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).”

The CBN directed that all energy and non-energy collections of Discos, whether cash or cashless, should only be performed by the banks.

“No entity shall be permitted to collect revenues for Discos except if that entity is so authorised by a DMB in line with the relevant CBN guidelines for agent banking and agent banking relationships, therefore: the DMB shall be permitted to authorise its agents to collect energy and non- energy payments on its behalf for any Disco; the actions or inactions of the agent shall be the responsibility of the authorising DMB and any DMB found to be maintaining any account(s) for any entity collecting payments on behalf of any Disco without appropriate authorisation shall have regulatory sanctions imposed on it,” it added.

The CBN directed the banks to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that all electricity customer payment channels/endpoints identify electricity market payments in such a way as to provide the identification of these payments and information relating to the Disco as well as the Disco account information such as account ID, customer ID, meter ID, among others.

“All Disco collections (cash and cashless) shall be regarded as an energy collection and, unless identified otherwise, shall be swept automatically into a Feeder Collections Account (FCA) in the sole name of the Disco. The proper classification of accounts (into energy and non-energy) shall be the responsibility of the Disco and DMB that guaranteed the Disco or its designate bank.

“AII Disco non-energy collections shall be paid into a designated account in the name of the Disco provided that: non-energy collections arising from services rendered by the Disco shall be paid into an account in the sole name of a Disco and non-energy collections arising from services rendered by a third-party vendor on behalf of a Disco shall be paid into an account in the joint name of the Disco and the third-party vendor,” it said.