Electricity debt soars: Nigerians owe N349bn in just nine months

BUSINESS DAY NG

Many electricity consumers defaulted in the payment of electricity supplied to them to the tune of N349 billion in the first nine months of 2024.

Only N1.189 trillion out of N1.538 trillion billed was collected by electricity distribution companies (DisCos).

BusinessDay’s analysis of the first, second and third quarter 2024 report as published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) showed that the total revenue collected by the eleven DisCos in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 was N291.62 billion out of N368.65 billion billed to customers.

The total energy received by all DisCos in the period was 7,171.93GWh while the energy billed to end-use customers was 5,769.52GWh, translating to an overall billing efficiency of 80.45 percent…