Electricity consumers owe the distribution companies up to N54bn for the power consumed in February this year, according to a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
In its Factsheet for February, NERC disclosed that the 12 Discos were able to recover N191.75bn out of the N245.93bn total billings. This represents 77.9 per cent collection efficiency and a 6.56 per cent increase compared to January 2025.
NERC also disclosed that 2,583.19 gigawatt-hours was the total energy received in February, while 2,137 GWh was the total energy billed. This represents a billing efficiency of 82.73 per cent and an increase of 1.81 per cent month-on-month.
Similarly, the allowed average tariff was N116.18 per kilowatt-hour, but the Discos were able to collect an average of N88.21 per kWh, being a 75.9 per cent recovery efficiency. It is 10.5 per cent higher than that of January.
The Factsheet showed that Aba Power has the highest allowed tariff of N200.88 per kWh, but its actual average collection for the month was N127.58/kWh.
The utility company had N6.44bn in total billings. However, it was able to collect N3.47bn, representing 53.90 per cent collection efficiency, the lowest for the month.
It was noted that Abuja Disco had the highest collection efficiency of 89.03 per cent, having recovered N31.7bn of the N35.67bn billed in February. Eko Disco followed Abuja with a collection efficiency of 88.76 per cent. EKEDC recovered N36.6bn of the N41.24bn billed.
Similarly, Enugu Disco had total billings of N17.95bn but collected N15.88bn from its customers, representing 88.47 per cent collection efficiency.
Ibadan Disco, operating in seven states, billed its customers N26.88bn and collected N19.28bn, which was 71.72 per cent. Ikeja had N41.18 billings but recovered N33.35bn from customers, having an 81 per cent collection rate.
The PUNCH reports that commercial losses and low recovery rates remain a major concern to investors in the power sector. The inability of the utility companies and the government to meter all customers has also been blamed for the low cost recovery.
With over seven million unmetered customers, there are usually disputes between a customer and the Disco over the actual cost of consumption, as estimated billings have failed to give customers the real cost of electricity consumed at a given time.
Recently, the regulator sanctioned eight Discos for overbilling their customers.
In an interview with our customers recently, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu, said investors in mini-grids across the country were recouping their investments through tariffs as customers were metered to achieve over 95 per cent collection efficiency.
