Nigerians paid a sum of N565.2 billion as electricity bill between January and September 2021, representing a 51.1% increase compared to N372.92 billion in the corresponding period of 2020.
This is contained in the key operational and financial data for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The N565.2 billion collected by the 11 discos in the country represents a 68.77% collection efficiency compared to N821.8 billion billed to customers in the review period. A further look into the report shows that electricity consumption increased by 7.5% year-on-year to 17.29TWh in 9 months 2021.
Highlights
- A total of 22.58TWh was received by the 11 discos in the review period, while consumers were billed for 17.29TWh.
- A sum of N159.79 billion was sent to the discos by market operator, from which N121.48 billion was remitted between January and September 2021.
- This results in a shortfall of N38.31 billion.
- As of September 2021, there were 12.78 million registered customers with 4.77 million metered customers, indicating a metering gap of 8.01 million.
The increase in the amount paid for electricity consumption can be attributed to the increase in electricity tariff in the later part of 2020. Meanwhile, Ikeja Electric recorded the highest collection in the period under review.
Notably, Ikeja Electric collected a sum of N114.89 billion between January and September 2021, representing an 84% collection efficiency, while Eko Electric followed with collections for the period at N87.86 billion and a collection efficiency of 83.3%.
A further breakdown shows that Abuja disco collected N85.65 billion, Ibadan (N66.6 billion), Enugu (N51.2 billion), Benin (N42.7 billion), Port Harcourt (N35.1 billion), Kano (N34 billion), Kaduna (N22 billion), Jos (N18.2 billion), and Yola (N6.9 billion).
Electricity collection by Nigerian discos picked up significantly in 2020, after electricity tariff was increased, hereby reflecting a significant increase in the billing. Notably, the average monthly billing was N91.3 billion in 2021 compared to an average of N68 billion recorded in the previous year.
On the other hand, the discos remitted a sum of N121.5 billion to market operator (MO) in the period under review, with Abuja Electric remitting the highest of N18.2 billion followed by Ibadan Electric, with N17.35 billion.
