All 11 electricity distribution companies, also known as DisCos, recorded over N146bn revenue shortfalls in the fourth quarter of 2024, a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said.
The report released on the commission’s website on Monday said the Distribution Companies (DisCos) collectively collected ₦509.84bn from a total of ₦658.4b billed to customers, translating into a collection efficiency of 77.44 per cent
While this reflects an improvement of 2.89 percentage points compared to the 74.55 per cent recorded in Q3 2024, the gap between billed and collected revenue still poses significant financial challenges.
Also, in the same quarter, DisCos faced a cumulative upstream invoice payable of ₦408.86bn.
This included ₦360.97bn for generation costs from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), adjusted for differences between remittances and obligations (DRO), and ₦47.89bn for transmission and administrative services provided by the Market Operator (MO).
Out of this obligation, the DisCos remitted ₦378.93bn, comprising ₦336.63bn paid to NBET and ₦42.30bn to the MO.
This left an outstanding balance of ₦29.92bn.
The remittance performance for Q4 2024 was 92.68 per cent, a notable increase from the 83.77per cent recorded in Q3, signalling better efforts to meet financial obligations.
However, the lingering shortfall continues to strain the liquidity of the power sector.
“The total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2024/Q4 was ₦509.84bn out of ₦658.40bn billed to customers.
This translates to a collection efficiency of 77.44 per cent, representing an increase of 2.89 percentage points compared to 2024/Q3 (74.55 per cent).
“In 2024/Q4, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by DisCos was ₦408.86bn, consisting of ₦360.97bn for DRO-adjusted generation costs from NBET2 and ₦47.89bn for transmission and administrative services by the Market Operator (MO).
“Out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum of ₦378.93bn (₦336.63bn for NBET and ₦42.30bn for (MO) with an outstanding balance of ₦29.92bn.
“This translates to a remittance performance of 92.68 per cent in 2024/Q4 compared to the 83.77 per cent recorded in 2024/Q3. The disaggregated DisCo remittance performance to the market for 2024/Q4″, the report stated.
The report also highlighted the debts owed by bilateral customers, both international and domestic. Six international bilateral customers who purchase electricity from grid-connected generation companies (GenCos) collectively paid $5.21m in Q4 2024.
This was against the total invoice of $14.05m issued to them by the market operator for services rendered during the quarter.
The significant difference underscores the growing debt from international customers, with over $8.84m outstanding.
On the domestic front, bilateral customers were invoiced ₦1.977bn for electricity consumed in Q4 2024 but paid only ₦1.252bn, leaving an unpaid balance of ₦724.44m.
“In 2024/Q4, the six international bilateral customers purchasing power from the grid-connected GenCos made a cumulative payment of $5.21m against the $14.05m invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q4.
“Similarly, the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of ₦1,252.58 million against the ₦1,977.02 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q4 3″, the report stated further.
During the period under review, DisCos received a total of 7,420.58 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in Q4 2024, while 6,207.84 GWh was billed to end-user customers.
This translates into a billing efficiency of 83.66 per cent, an improvement of 1.51 percentage
