NERC says DisCos’ revenue increased by 8% to N466bn in Q3 2024

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria made a total of N466.69 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2024.

The DisCos’ revenue rose by 8.2 percent compared to the N431.16 billion recorded in Q2 of 2024.

The NBS, in its latest report on electricity for Q3 2024, released on Monday, said collection efficiency was 74.55 percent.

“The total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2024/Q3 was ₦466.69 billion out of ₦626.02 billion billed to customers,” NERC said.

“This translates to a collection efficiency of 74.55%, representing a decrease of -4.76pp compared to 2024/Q2 (79.31%).”

In terms of revenue collection performance of all DisCos, the NERC said Eko DisCo recorded the highest collection efficiency of 84.4 percent (N87 billion), followed by Ikeja DisCo with 83.78 percent (N83.55 billion).

“Conversely, Kaduna DisCo recorded the lowest collection efficiency at 46.42% (N11.4 billion),” the report added.

“A comparison of DisCos performance shows that only Ibadan (+6.59pp) and Enugu (+2.88pp) DisCos recorded improvements in collection efficiency in 2024/Q3 when compared to 2024/Q2.

“Conversely, the remaining nine (9) DisCos recorded declines in collection efficiency with Kaduna (-14.20pp) and Jos (-12.09pp) DisCos having the most significant declines over the period.”

‘DISCOS REMITTED N441 BN’

The NERC said the cumulative upstream invoice payable by DisCos in Q3 was N441.67 billion, consisting of N382.9 billion for DisCos remittance obligations (DRO)-adjusted generation costs from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET), and N58.77 billion for transmission and administrative services by the market operator (MO).

“Out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum of ₦370.01 billion (N324.83 billion for NBET and N45.18 billion for (MO) with an outstanding balance of N71.66 billion,” the commission said.

“This translates to a remittance performance of 83.77% in 2024/Q3 compared to the 79.76% recorded in 2024/Q2.”

On metering, the electricity regulator said a total of 184,507 meters were installed in the quarter reviewed.

The commission said the figure represents an increase of 256 percent compared to the 51,826 meters installed in the previous quarter.

“The new installations increased the net end-user metering rate in the NESI by +0.72pp between 2024/Q2 (45.43%) and 2024/Q3 (46.15%).

“During the quarter, 178,715 meters (96.86% of the total installations) were installed under the MAP framework, 3,508 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework and 2,298 meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework.”

On October 16, Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, said 1.3 million meters will be delivered between December and the second quarter (Q2) of 2025.