Electricity distribution companies in Nigeria (DISCOs) suffered a reduced tariff collection efficiency in Q2 2020 from 68.04% in 2020 Q1 to 64.4% in 2020 Q2, with a recorded loss of N58 billion unpaid electricity dues.
This according to the Q2 report of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) on analysis of the commercial KPIs of member DISCOs.
- According to the report, of the N163 billion billed by the 10 DISCOs in 2020 Q2, they only recouped N105 billion – representing a 64.4% collection efficiency.
Data from the report suggests that Covid-19 induced disruptions and lockdown negatively impacted the commercial performance and collection efficiency of the companies, which had improved over the last three quarters.
- The report noted that of the 10 DISCO, Abuja DISCO recorded the highest collection efficiency (86.94%), significantly higher than that of Eko DISCO (73.26%).
- Ikeja DISCO came third with 70.80% collection efficiency.
- Benin DISCO also recorded below 50% (49.54%) collection efficiency, while Port Harcourt DISCO recorded the lowest (46.48%).
What you should know
- The collection efficiency is computed by expressing total collection as a ratio of the total billing by DISCOs in a particular period.
- In Q2 2020, the number of registered customers among the 10 private DISCOs passed the 9.8 million point.
- In April, the collection efficiency declined to 49% due to the Covid-19 lockdown, with a monthly collection of only N27.3 billion. The collection gap has not recovered yet, even though the collection efficiency picked in June.
- Covid-19 pandemic and unreliable energy delivered by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) affected the energy billed in the period. Uncertainty on the energy to be received from TCN constitute a major threat and may negatively impact future performance improvement plans.
- Since 2015, there has been no significant improvement in the energy generated and wheeled by TCN to DISCOs. It continues to be low and flat, only affected by a seasonal effect between the dry and rainy seasons.
- Nairametrics recently reported that the total revenue collected by DISCOs from customers in the first quarter of 2020, stood at N114.29 billion out of a total bill of N186.82 billion.
- Abuja DISCO had the highest collection efficiency of 80.89%, followed by Ikeja DISCO with 72.39%, while Port Harcourt DISCO had the lowest collection efficiency of 43.36% in 2020 Q1.