The 11 electricity distribution companies recorded a modest improvement in their billings and collections in the second quarter of 2019, the regulator said in a sector report published on its website.
According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the commercial viability and financial liquidity of the industry continued to be a major challenge with slight improvement in the second quarter of 2019.
“During the quarter under review, the total billing to electricity consumers by the eleven (11) DisCos rose to ₦186.08billion with a total collection of ₦121.32billion. These denote 80.18% and 69.10% billing and collection efficiency respectively, indicating 0.20% and 5.11% points increases respectively from the first quarter of 2019.
“The level of collection efficiency during the quarter under review indicates that as much as ₦3.09 out of every ₦10 worth of energy sold during the second quarter of 2019 still remained uncollected as and when due
NERC also said that during the second quarter of 2019, out of the total invoice of ₦180.08billion issued to the eleven (11) DisCos for energy received from NBET and for service charge by MO, the sum of ₦55.10billion of the total invoice was settled, representing 30.60% remittance performance, and 2.83 percentage points increase from the first quarter of 2019.
The Commission said the average total remittance performance to the market for all DisCos was 30.60% and ranges from 13.12% (Jos) to 43.27% (Eko). “Notwithstanding the slight progress recorded in the second quarter of 2019, the financial viability of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is still a major challenge threatening its sustainability,” the Commission said.
NERC said the liquidity challenge is partly due to the non-implementation of cost-reflective tariffs, high technical and commercial losses exacerbated by energy theft and consumers’ apathy to payments under the widely prevailing practise of estimated billing. The severity of the liquidity challenge in NESI was reflected in the less than 50% settlement rate of the energy invoice.
ISAAC ANYAOGU
