DisCos rake N116.9bn revenue in Q1-NERC
Motolani Oseni
The 11 DisCos operating in the country realized a total sum of N116.9 billion from their customers in the first quarter of 2019, out of the total billing of N182.8 billion, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) First Quarter 2019 report revealed.
The new report revealed that despite the increase in the amount of energy received by DisCos and a higher billing efficiency recorded relative to the preceding quarter, there was a decline of 0.5 per cent of the total revenue collected in the first quarter of 2019 when compared to N117.5 billion collected in the last quarter of 2018.
The NERC first quarter of, which was obtained on the regulator’s official website on Thursday, further shown that the overall collection efficiency for all DisCos decreased to 64 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 representing a 4 percentage point decrease from the 68 per cent collection efficiency recorded in 2018/Q4.
“The collection efficiency implies that for every N10 worth of energy billed to customers by DisCos in the first quarter, N4.0 remained unrecovered from customers as and when due.”
In appraising individual performances of the Discos, the commission said that Ikeja DisCo had the highest collection efficiency of 84 per cent followed by Eko DisCo with 80.3 per cent.
It also noted that on the contrary, Kaduna DisCo has the lowest collection efficiency of 39.6 per cent.
Ikeja and Kaduna DisCos retained the same ranking during the fourth quarter of 2018.
According to the report, “a major factor contributing to low collection efficiency is customers’ dissatisfaction with estimated billing which often resulted in an unwillingness to pay, the Commission, during the quarter, continued to monitor the procurement of meter asset providers by DisCos in line with the guidelines provided in the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) Regulations.
The MAP Regulation was issued by the Commission.”
On market remittance, the report disclosed that the liquidity challenge in the electricity industry has continued to manifest during the first quarter of 2019.
NERC added that this is evidenced in the DisCos, special and international customers’ level of remittances to NBET and MO, as compared with the invoices received for energy purchased from NBET and those received for administrative services from MO.
