The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says that the money collected by electricity companies for their services got worse in the third quarter of 2024. The efficiency rate decreased by 4.76 percentage points, from 79.31% in Q2 to 74.55% in Q3, as noted in the Commission’s Q3 2024 report released on Friday.
This drop shows that there are still problems in the electricity distribution industry, despite an increase in total revenue collected. In Q3 2024, DisCos collected N466.69 billion out of N626.02 billion billed to customers, compared to N431.16 billion collected from N543.64 billion billed in Q2. While the total revenue collected increased, the collection efficiency for Q3 was 74.55%, down from 79.31% in Q2, reflecting a 4.76 percentage point decline.
Among the electricity distribution companies, Eko DisCo performed the best, collecting 84.40% of what was owed. Ikeja DisCo came in second with 83.78%. On the other hand, Kaduna DisCo had the lowest performance at 46.42%, and Jos DisCo saw a big drop in their efficiency.
Ibadan DisCo and Enugu DisCo both did better in the third quarter, with their collection rates going up by 6.59% and 2.88% respectively. But nine other companies saw their efficiency drop. Kaduna and Jos had the biggest drops, with their rates falling by 14.20% and 12.09% respectively.
The report says that the recent decline in revenue collection efficiency may be linked to an increase in energy offtake during the period. It was observed that when energy offtake rises, DisCos often allocate the additional energy to areas with higher inefficiencies, which may contribute to the observed drop in collection efficiency.
