Nigerians Pay N210 Billion For Electricity in Three Months

Nigerian electricity consumers pay N210 billion to power distributors in three months.

Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) disclosed that Nigerians used N210 billion to buy electricity from distribution companies (Disco) between October and December of 2021. 

According to the 2021 fourth quarter (Q4) report of the commission which was released yesterday, electricity distribution companies otherwise known as “Discos” released a bill of N303.11 billion to consumers in Q4 2021 while a sum of N210.17 billion was retrieved. This means that N92.94 billion were left uncollected within the period under review.

NERC further stated that total billing by Disco increased by N30.12 billion if Q4 2021 is compared with Q3 2021. This represents an increase of 11.03 percent. Similarly, revenue collected in Q4 2021 increased by N16.64 billion when compared with Q3 2021. 

Although there was a slight increase of N16.64 billion in the revenue collected in Q4 2021, the increase in revenue did not however match up with the increase in electricity billing which was N30.12 billion, leaving a difference of N13.48 billion. 

Meanwhile, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) conceded that there is a huge metering gap for end-user customers. The commission acknowledged that metering deficiency is a perennial challenge that has critically hampered revenue generation in the industry.

The commission, therefore, disclosed a decrease in the number of meters installed in Q4 2021. 

“A total of 81,084 meters were installed in 2021/Q4 as compared to the 288,154 meters installed in 2021/Q3. The reduction in the number of meter installations in 2021/Q4 was largely driven by the winding down of the NMMP phase zero (0). The Commission’s records indicate that, of the 10,514,582 registered energy customers as at December 2021, only 4,773,217 (45.40%) have been metered compared to 42.93% metering as at September 2021” the report stated.

On electricity generation capacity, NERC noted that the average generation capacity for Q4 2022 was 5,465.72MW, with 4,294.02MWh/h generated per hour while the total power generated in Q4 2021 from 25 generating plants across the country was 9,480.21GWh.