NERC: Discos Collected N267.6bn, Achieved Billing Efficiency of 79% in Q3

.Cross-border customers fail to make remittance in three months

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) operating in the country collected N267.6 billion from customers in the third quarter of this year, achieving a billing efficiency of 79 per cent in the process, the Q3 quarterly report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has indicated.

According to the report, the total energy received by all Discos during the period was 7,184.45GWh, while the energy billed to end-users was 5,682.11GWh, representing a decrease of 2.44 per cent compared to the 81.53 per cent billing efficiency recorded in 2023/Q2.

“The total revenue collected by all Discos in 2023/Q3 was N267.61 billion out of N349.55 billion billed to customers. This translates to a collection efficiency of 76.56 per cent, which represents an increase of 1.02 per cent when compared to 2023/Q2 of 75.54 per cent.

“The increase in collection efficiency can be attributed to the implementation of various collection campaigns for improved remittance by post-paid customers,” the NERC report stated.

Nigeria’s power sector’s performance remains largely underwhelming, supplying just about 4,000mw to over 200 million citizens to power their homes and businesses.

The government recently admitted that as much as 40,000mw is currently generated by individual Nigerians through the deployment of generating sets, which further pollute the environment.

Generally, a lack of investment, sector illiquidity, non-cost reflective billing regime, gas-to-power supply disruptions, among others, have been blamed for the unenviable situation of the industry in the country.

According to the latest report, Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) loss, which provides the position of how much revenue a Disco has collected, relative to how much it should have collected based on the volume of energy sold to customers, was 39.45 per cent during the quarter.

 The ATC&C is also a critical parameter for the computation of allowed Disco tariffs used to adjust for the “efficient losses” that they are expected to incur for energy distribution and provision of supply services to end-user customers.

“The ATC&C loss in 2023/Q3 was 39.45 per cent comprising technical and commercial loss of 20.91 per cent and collection loss of 23.44 per cent. The ATC&C loss increased by 1.04 per cent compared to 2023/Q2 of 38.41 per cent,” NERC added.

According to the regulator, in 2023/Q3, the average energy offtake by Discos at their trading points was 3,253.83MWh/h, which was an increase of 0.08 per cent compared to the 3,251.31 MWh/h recorded in 2023/Q2.

“During the quarter, all the Discos recorded higher ATC&C losses than efficient loss targets in 2023/Q3. Consequentially, each Disco’s revenue collection in 2023/Q3 fell short of what is required to finance sustainable long-term operations while also providing reasonable returns for investors,” the document stated.

As for market remittance, during the period under consideration, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by Discos was N208.70 billion, according to NERC.

It added that this consisted of N167.40 billion for generation costs from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and N41.30 billion for transmission and administrative services by the Market Operator (MO).

Out of this amount, the Discos, it said, collectively remitted a total sum of N158.43 billion, that is N124.53 billion for NBET and N33.90 billion for MO, with an outstanding balance of N50.27 billion.

“This translates to a remittance performance of 75.91 per cent in 2023/Q3, which is down by 19.30 per cent compared to the 95.21 per cent recorded in 2023/Q2,” the report stressed.

In 2023/Q3, the NERC report stressed that none of the four international customers being supplied by the Generation Companies (Gencos) made any payment against the cumulative invoice of $11.16 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2023/Q3.

“Similarly, none of the 16 bilateral customers operating in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) made any payment against the cumulative invoice of N2.814 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2023/Q3,” the report stated.

In all, there were 27 grid-connected power plants in 2023/Q3, consisting of 19 gas, four hydro, two steam, and two gas/steam-powered plants, while the plants’ average available generation capacity during the quarter was 4,211.44mw, representing a 4.02 per cent decrease of 176.47mw, compared to the 4,387.91mw recorded in 2023/Q2.

The significant decline in available generation capacity in the month of July, NERC said, was because lhovbor, Geregu NIPP, Afam IV&V and Sapele plants were shut down for most of the month due to mechanical faults.

In the quarter under consideration, there were two incidences of system collapse, following 353 days of continuous grid operations.

During the period, the commission said it issued 36 licences, permits and certifications.

On metering, it stated that a total of 148,389 meters were installed in 2023/Q3, representing a decrease of 32,670 installations, that is 18.04 per cent, compared to the 181,059 meters installed in 2023/Q2.