By Moses Uwagbale
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed Deposit Money Banks (DMB) to provide bank guarantees to Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on behalf of Distribution Companies (DISCos).
The CBN gave the directive in a letter written to DMBs in Abuja on Tuesday.
The bank explained that the DMBs would take full responsibility for the collection of the concerned DISCos 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 gurantee its exposure to NBET or TCN.
“The payment or settlement of all Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (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 collection arrising from services rendered by the DISCo shall be paid into an account in the so name of the DISCo.
“Also, collections arising from the services rendered by a third party or parties on behalf of the DISCo shall be paid into an account in the joint name of the DISCo and the third party vendors.
“All energy and non energy collections of DISCos whether cash or cashless shall only be performed by DMBs,” the letter explained.
