Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) generated N199.90 billion in combined revenue during the first quarter of 2022, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) quarterly report.
The document released by the regulator on Thursday says that all DisCos raised a total of N199.90 billion in Q1 2022 out of N295.69 billion billed to customers.
This translates into a collection efficiency of 67.36%, which represents a reduction of 1.98 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, when the average collection efficiency was 69.34%.
In monetary terms, the report says that although turnover in Q1 2022 dropped by 7.41 billion naira (-2.44%), revenue collection dropped at a higher rate of 5.22% in
N10.98 billion.
The regulator said it is imperative that DisCos employ technologies and operating procedures to increase both its billing and collection performance to avoid long-term financial challenges.
“These could include holistic energy accounting procedures, customer and infrastructure metering, etc.,” he said.
remittances
As for market remittances, the regulator said the combined bills from Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and the Market Operator (MO) to Discos in Q1 2022 were N205.63 billion.
It said the bills were split between generation costs (164.86 billion naira) and administrative/transmission services (40.77 billion naira).
He said that out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum of N135.69 billion. But with an outstanding balance of N69.94 billion, this corresponds to a remittance yield of 65.99 percent during the quarter.
The report says that the poor remittances are a direct consequence of the DisCos registering an Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) performance higher than allowed.
In addition, the report noted that there were 26 grid-connected power plants in the first quarter of 2022 consisting of 19 gas, four hydro, two steam and one gas/steam plants.
He said that the average available generation capacity of the plants during the quarter was 4,712.34 MW, which represents a decrease of 13.78% (-753.38 MW) compared to the 5,465.72 MW registered in the fourth quarter of 2021.
“The total energy received by all the DisCos in the first quarter of 2022 was 7,300.05 GWh, while the energy billed to end users was 5,649.21 GWh, indicating an average billing efficiency of 77.38 %.
“This billing efficiency is an increase of +1.02 pp from the 76.56 percent registered in 2021/Q4,” he said.
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