A report by the regulator shows the firms earned the cash out of N273 billion they projected from July through September.
Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) generated N193.5 billion in combined revenue for the third quarter of last year, the quarterly report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said.
The document released by the regulator on Monday showed the power firms earned the cash out of a total of N273 billion they projected from July through September.
That was N8.2 billion higher than the turnover for the preceding quarter, when a revenue ofN185.3 billion.
The Q3 2021 figure “represents a collection efficiency of 70.89 percent as compared to 68.9 percent recorded in 2021/Q2,” according to the NERC, which established deployment of meters through the National Mass Metering Programme funded through the Central Bank of Nigeria and the continuation of the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme as the main drivers of performance.
Breakdown of Performance
Ibadan DisCo accounted for the biggest revenue at N24.6 billion, a N3.83 billion jump over Q2 revenue of N20.81 billion.
Average collection efficiency across all DisCos increased from 68.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2021 to 70.9 per cent in the period under review.
Port Harcourt DisCo generated N12.25 billion in the quarter, an increase from the Q2 N11. 56 billion. Benin DisCos generated N14. 76 billion in the Q3 2021.
Both Port Harcourt and Benin DisCos improved in collection efficiency from 60 percent and 55.2 percent to 66.1 per cent and 57.4 per cent respectively, translating to an increase of N690 million and N2.18 billion in that order in value terms.
During the same period, Yola, Enugu, and Jos DisCos reported the greatest drop in collection efficiency from 52 percent, 67.2 percent, and 54.3 percent to 50 percent, 64.5 percent, and 50 percent respectively. These translated to N100 million – N360 million and N400 million respectively.
The three DISCOs generated N2.2 billion, N16.6 billion and N6.55 billion for the period.
During the period, the companies were supposed to remit N153.9 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, to pay power generating firms, but they paid only N100.2 billion.