Power Distribution Companies in Nigeria have reported a revenue collection loss of N109.57bn, a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has revealed.
The loss in revenue was largely due to customers’ poor satisfaction with estimated billing, and electricity theft.
The report, which covers the 11 Power Distribution Companies, said that a total of N119.29bn revenue was realised from customers, out of a total billing of N172.90bn in Q3, leaving a loss of N53.61bn.
It noted that the total revenue collected by Discos from customers in the fourth quarter of 2019 was N127.14bn out of the total billing of N183.10bn, leaving an unrecovered amount of N55.96bn.
However, the report explained that there was a 69.44 per cent increase in collection efficiency in the fourth quarter of last year, as against 68.99 per cent efficiency in the third quarter.
The regulator, in the report, also said out of every N10 worth of energy billed to customers by Discos in the third quarter, N3.06 remained unrecovered.
The report said, “A major factor contributing to low collection efficiency is customers’ displeasure with estimated billing, which often resulted in an unwillingness to pay the Commission, during the quarter.
“Notwithstanding its increase from the preceding quarter, the collection efficiency by the DisCos is still low and has continued to adversely impact the financial liquidity of the industry, which in turn, has led to low investment in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.”
On individual performances of the Discos, it said Ikeja Disco had the highest collection efficiency of 87.35 per cent, followed by Eko Disco with 84.28 per cent.
On the other hand, the Commission said Kaduna Disco had the lowest collection efficiency of 40.44 per cent.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, it noted that Abuja Disco recorded the highest improvement in collection efficiency, increasing by 3.84 percentage points from 75.2 per cent in the third quarter, to 79.04 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
