N515.68bn Income Of DisCos Below Forecast By N152bn

The N515.68 billion financial income of Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in the country reflected a shortfall of N152 billion from the forecasted figure of Q4, 2024.

The figure was computed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) from income from Benin, Kaduna, Kano, Yola, Jos, Abuja, Ibadan, Ikeja, Eko, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Aba Power Electric.

NERC data shows that in the last three months of 2024, in October, the listed DisCos posted a cumulative revenue of N163.07 billion from a projected N213.62 billion.

A further breakdown shows that in November, the DisCos generated N174.65  billion from their revenue forecast of N216.72 billion, while in December, they recorded N177.96 billion from supply of power to their customers.

In total, they recorded N515.68 billion during the period under consideration, with a marginal shortfall of N152 billion.

It would be recalled that 15 per cent of customers were reclassified and moved into Band ‘A’ where they now pay about N209.50 per kilowatt/hour of electricity, from about N63/kwh previously.

According to reports, the DisCos made N291.62 billion in revenue in Q1, 2024, before the Band ‘A’ policy and the N291.2 billion was out of the N368.65 billion billed to customers, translating to a collection efficiency of 79.11 per cent, and representing an increase of over 5.32 per cent when compared to 2023/Q4 of 73.79 per cent.

At the time, Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) Loss was 36.36 per cent comprising technical and commercial loss (19.55 per cent) and collection loss (20.83 per cent), the report indicated.

In Q2, the DisCos recorded the sum of N431. 16 billion as revenues from customers, reflecting a collection efficiency of 79.31 per cent, while in Q3,  they collectively recorded a total of N466.69 billion in revenue. This was an 8 per cent increase from the previous quarter.

For that quarter, a total revenue of N626.02 billion billed to customers, translating to a collection efficiency of 74.55 per cent, which was a 4.76 per cent decrease from the previous quarter and a revenue shortfall of N159.3 billion.