By Abdulrahman Abdullahi
Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) has announced their total gain of Nigerians N542.73 billion from electricity bills in the year 2020.
However, 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) across the country, collectors of the revenues, on the other hand, recorded a shortfall of N273.42 billion in the year.
They, (DisCos) received a total of N542.73 billion out of N816. 15 billion they billed their consumers.
This is an increase of N42.46 billion from the total of N230.96 billion shortfall recorded in 2019.
Checks also revealed that the amount the DisCos generated from their consumers in 2020 increased by N55.49 billion from the N487.24 billion recorded in 2019.
This was disclosed by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in its 2020 financial report.
Ikeja Disco led the pack raking the highest amount of electricity bill from customers. It received N105.23 billion in 2020.
Yola Disco, however, received the lowest revenue in the year under review. It got N10.74 billion during the period.
Eko DisCo made revenue of N84.7 billion, followed by Abuja DisCo with N82.6 billion.
Ibadan DisCo also recorded N61.8 billion within the period under review.
Enugu DisCo recorded revenue of N47.83 billion while Benin and Jos DisCos received N45.66 billion and N17.44 billion respectively
Kaduna, Kano and Port Harcourt DisCos got N21.53 billion, N33.84 billion and N31.4 billion respectively from their electricity consumers.
Two months ago, NERC announced that 62.63% of electricity customers in Nigeria were under the estimated billing package as of September 2020, a development that will not make the DisCos’ shortfall go away so soon.
This was disclosed by the Commission in its 2019 to Q3, 2020 Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) Key Financial and Operational Data.
The commission stated that if Electricity consumers have pre-paid meters, the DisCos will heave a sigh of relief, as everyone will be forced to pay for their consumption with the pre-paid cards bought from the DisCos.
The NERC disclosed that metering for customers has been a challenge so far, citing that only Eko Electricity Distribution Company and Ikeja Electric Plc had metered over 50% of their customers.
