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.

Related News

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

 

More from our Power Column
Read Next
Clean-Energy

China, others show Nigeria how to attract billion-dollar investment in clean energy

By Oladehinde Oladipo • December 31, 2019

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date

Open In Whatsapp