Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has topped the list of Discos with the highest number of customers, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report titled “Electricity Report 2015-2020,” shows that customer numbers under the reviewed period increased successively on a year-on-year basis, with the highest numbers recorded in IBEDC. Generally, it rose from 6.99 million in 2015 to 10.37 million in 2020, it said.
The number of metered customers increased consecutively on a year-on-year basis from 3.15 million in 2015 to 3.80 million in 2019 but declined to 3.51 million in 2020.
“In 2015, Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) recorded the highest number, while IBEDC stood top between 2016 and 2019.
“Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) recorded the highest in 2020,” the report said.
Oluwaseun Arambada, research analyst, FBNQuest merchant bank said IBEDC topped the list because it serves more than one state as opposed to Ikedc which serves only a part of Lagos.
“Then, we still cannot take away the effort of IBEDC over the years,” he said.
On the other side, the report showed that the estimated billing customer records a year-on-year positive growth rate consecutively from 3.85 million in 2015 to 6.86 million in 2020.
“In 2020, the customer numbers were highest in IBEDC with 1,282,136 and lowest in Eko Distribution Company (EKEDC) with 269,022.
“When the number of customers by Distribution Company (DisCo) is disaggregated between 2015 and 2020, IBEDC has the highest customer numbers compared to other DisCos,’ the report shows.
Looking more closely at the 2020 customer distribution, IBEDC reported 1,953,171 customer numbers, accounting for approximately 18.84 percent of the total for the year.
Meanwhile, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) were close behind, with 1,285,715 and 1,227,138 customers, accounting for 12.40 percent and 11.84 percent, respectively.
Furthermore, Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) had the lowest number of customers (428,621), accounting for 4.13 percent of the total.
Metered Customers
The trajectory of metered customers has shown annual positive growth rates consecutively except in 2020.
In 2015, metered customers were 3.15 million and rose slightly by 0.23 percent in 2016. This also increased in 2017 and 2018 with 3.57 million and 3.58 million customers respectively.
Metered customers in 2019 stood at 3.80 million, showing a 5.96 percent growth rate, yet lower in 2020 when 3.51 million customers were metered.
In 2020, AEDC recorded the highest metered customers relative to other DisCos. This stood at 693,622, followed by IBEDC with 671,035, while YEDC recorded the least with 71,867.
Read also: Four charts that show Nigeria’s electricity sector performance in 6 years
Estimated Customers
Estimated customer records, again show year-on-year positive growth rates consecutively.
By definition, estimated customers do not own meters but are supplied electricity and billed.
The number of estimated customers in 2015 was 3.85 million, and 4.19 million in 2016.
In 2017, it rose by 4.28 per cent when 4.37 million customers were recorded.
“It further increased to 5.05 million in 2018 and grew by 14.08 per cent in 2019 when 5.76 million customers were recorded.
“Yet, this positive trend continued in 2020 with estimated customers of 6.86 million,” the report claimed.
Meanwhile, estimated customers as of 2020 based on DisCos were highest in IBEDC with 1,282,136, followed by IEDC and EEDC with 1,121,722 and 762,311 respectively. However, EKEDC recorded the least with 269,022.
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