Subsidy: Ikeja Electric, Eko DisCo, Others Receive N36 Billion From FG in 3 Months
- The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has stated that the Nigerian government paid about N32 billion as a subsidy to Electricity firms
- The amount covers subsidy payments for the first quarter of 2023 for revenue shortfalls
- Also, distribution companies remitted varying amounts from invoices issued by Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET)
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According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Nigerian government paid N36 billion to subsidize electricity consumption in the first quarter of 2023.
NERC said in its quarterly report that the money amounted to the payment of N12 billion monthly paid to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET).
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With the NBET charged with the revenue collection due to the generation firms and the Transmission Companies of Nigeria (TCN) from the DisCos, it received about N141.5 billion from the N209 billion invoice issued to the DisCos.
Daily Trust reported that revenue collected by the 11 distribution companies in the quarter of 2023 amounted to N247 billion from the N359.3 billion billed to customers.
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DisCos remit varying amounts to FG as revenue
Analysis shows that Abuja DisCo paid N20 billion out of the N32.8 billion invoice it received, Benin DisCo paid N14.4 billion from its N17.8 billion invoice, Eko DisCo paid N19.4 billion from the invoice of N22.8 billion, and Enugu DisCo paid N15.72 billion from its N20 billion.
Ibadan DisCo paid N17.5 billion from its invoice of N24.5 billion, Ikeja DisCo paid N29.6 billion from the N35.9 billion invoice it received, Jos DisCo paid N1.8 billion from its N15.3 billion, Kano DisCo paid N6.1 billion from its N15 billion.
Also, Port Harcourt DisCo paid N8.5 billion from its N14.5 billion, and Yola DisCo paid N899 million from its bill of N1 billion.
FG subsidizes electricity to cover revenue shortfalls
The regulatory agency said the government intervention is due to the absence of cost-reflective tariffs that the government undertakes to cover the resulting gap in tariff shortfall funding. The funding applies to NBET invoices that the DisCOs pay.
NERC revealed that out of the 171,107 meters installed in Q1 of 2023, 5.80% were metered under the NMMP scheme, 92.71% of customers were metered via the MAP intervention, while 1.47% and 0.02% were metered under the Vendor Financed and DisCo Financed schemes, respectively.
The NERC report also disclosed that it received 85 reports from licensees, from which there were 33 incidents resulting in 16 injuries and recorded 17 fatalities.
Per the report, the incidents resulted from illegal/unauthorized connections, unsafe conditions, wire snap, vandalism, explosion, fire outbreak, vehicular collision, and fall from height.
NERC said:
“The commission has initiated investigations into all reported incidents and will enforce relevant actions against licensees where necessary.
“It said during the period, the most frequently reported issues among the 249,683 complaints received by DisCos were metering (47.66 percent), billing (22.72 percent), and service interruption (9.22 percent).
“These 3 complaints cumulatively accounted for over 79 percent of total complaints.”
Electricity tariff: Nigerians brace for potential hike as 11 DisCos seek review
Legit.ng reported that a total of 11 Nigerian electricity distribution companies have applied for the review of their electricity tariffs.
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC made this known in a notice it described as an application for rate review.
Legit.ng earlier reported that Discos are meeting with NERC to demand 40% hike approval citing losses from the petrol prices that keep escalating as well as fluctuating exchange rates, among economic conditions.
Source: Legit.ng
