Daily Trust
The 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria are said to have lost N258.3billion in revenue for what they reportedly supplied from November 2020 to September 2021, data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) revealed.
But some consumers expressed doubts over the claim, saying the figures being bandied are not a true reflection of the reality.
They said millions of Nigerians had not been metered and the amounts they were asking customers to pay monthly were exaggerated.
Some of them said they got light for few hours, had no appliances that consume power but received bills asking them to pay thousands of naira every month.
However, experts said the way out of the lingering problems in the electricity sector is for all stakeholders to deliver their mandates and government to sanction violators.
How debts accrued
Daily Trust Saturday reports that the DisCos sent out bills to their customers for N819.4bn worth of energy consumed within 11 months but received N561.1bn of the expected revenue.
Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu
Analysis of the data indicates that the loss is about 31 per cent of the total revenue expected in the Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM).
A breakdown of the losses across the 11 DisCos shows that Kaduna DisCo led with the losses as it raised N65.1bn bill within the 11-month period.
However, it lost N43.4bn of that amount to non-payment, which is 67 per cent gap and the highest loss-operating DisCo as at September 2021.
Yola DisCo raised N13.4bn bill but received just N6.8bn and lost N6.6bn, which is about 50 per cent loss. A new private firm, Quest Electricity, has taken over its operation from the Bureau of Public Enterprises since November 2021, with an expected significant loss turnaround in the next two years.
The third highest loss was recorded by the Jos DisCo, which was to collect N33.9bn but lost N16.4bn, representing 48 per cent loss of what it should earn.
