The slow-paced metering efforts by the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), have left a larger number of customers heavily relying on the estimated billing system, as the number of unmetered customers has risen to 7.3 million.
According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC’s) 2023 Annual report released in Abuja on Monday, out of over 13.16 million registered customers, the DisCos, have metered only 672,539 customers.
The Commission noted that as of December 31, 2023, only 5,842,726 (44.39%) of the registered 13,162,572 customers in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry were metered. DisCos installed 672,539 end-use customer meters in 2023. A total of 25,847 meters were installed under the National Mass Metering Program (NMMP) framework while 585,265 meters were installed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework.
It stated that 6,912 meters were installed through the Vendor Finance Metering framework, while 53 end-use customer meters were installed through the DisCo Financed framework.
The report showed that electricity subsidy dropped to ₦151.30 billion during the year, indicating a 17.7 per cent decline from 2022.
“A Minimum Remittance Obligation (MRO) adjusted invoice of ₦858.03 billion was issued by Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading plc (NBET) and Market Operator (MO) for energy costs and administrative services to DisCos in 2023.
“The DisCos remitted a total of ₦706.73 billion, resulting in a deficit of ₦151.30 billion during the year. Based on the above, the gross DisCo remittance rate to the upstream segment for 2023 was 82.37 per cent”, the report added.
The report revealed that the federal government is set to pay approximately ₦180.8 billion in electricity subsidies to power consumers in Bands ‘B’ to ‘E’, whose tariffs have remained frozen since December 2022, according to reports from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
NERC said it has approved ₦26.4 billion for Abuja consumers, ₦23.76 billion for Ikeja Disco, ₦22.21 billion for Ibadan Disco, ₦19.92 billion for Eko Disco, and ₦14.87 billion for Benin Disco this month.
The report further stated that in the September subsidy cycle, Enugu Distribution Company (Disco) is set to receive N14.61 billion, while Port Harcourt Disco will be allocated N13.45 billion. Kaduna Disco will benefit from N13.14 billion, Kano Disco will receive N12.96 billion, and Jos Disco will be entitled to a subsidy of N11.68 billion. Yola Disco is slated to get N8.06 billion in this round of disbursements.
It added: “In line with the policy direction of the federal government on electricity subsidy, the allowed tariffs for Bands B-E customer categories shall remain frozen at the rates payable since December 2022 subject to further policy direction by the government.”
The report also stated that NERC has imposed fines totalling ₦8.3 billion on the country’s 11 DisCos for overcharging customers. The Commission has also directed the Discos to compensate affected consumers for the improper billing, the report showed.