Despite Epileptic Power Supply, Discos’ H1 Revenue Set to Surge by 38.8%

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Revenues collected by the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) are expected to increase by about 38.8 per cent in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, a THISDAY review of available data has shown.

Although the data for the commercial performance of the Discos had yet to be released for June, however, a projection of the trend in recent months, especially since the introduction of the new tariff for Band ‘A’ has seen monthly revenue hover around N140 billion since April.

The two key bodies that publish results of Discos’ activities periodically are the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NERC figures showed that while the electricity distributors cumulatively made N515 billion in the first six months of 2023, in the same period of 2024, revenue could hit as much as N715 billion, when the June data is made public.

A breakdown of the available figures showed that in the first two quarters of 2023, the Discos raked in N247.09 billion and 267.86 billion respectively, to hit about N515 billion in the first six months of that year.

But this year, when NERC and NBS make their data for June public, the THISDAY projection showed that monies collected by the Discos will rise to at least a total of N715 billion in the first six months of 2024, mostly on the back of the recent tariff increment for selected electricity consumers.

A further breakdown of the monthly collection for this year indicated that for the first five months, the Discos made N95 billion in January; N97 billion was collected in February; N100.44 billion was generated in March, before rising to N142.92 billion in April and N139.23 billion in May.  

With a revenue estimate of N140 billion in June, the collection for the first half of 2024 is expected to hit N715 billion as against N515 billion in H1, 2023, that is a rise in collection of about N200 billion compared to last year.

In April this year, NERC, the sector regulator, ordered an upward review of electricity tariffs for Band ‘A’ customers by over 230 per cent, from about N68/kWh to N225/kWh, mostly accounting for the surge in revenue from that month.

However, NERC noted that Bands B, C, D and E will not be affected, stressing that the Band A customers must be offered at least an average daily electricity supply of 20 hours.

It added that Band A consumers represent 15 per cent of the population but consume 40 per cent of the nation’s electricity and reviewed downwards the number of feeders hitherto on the band from 800 to 500.

However, the latest data from NERC showed that whereas N724 billion was billed to electricity customers from January to June last year, this year, the Discos are projected to raise total billing to about N930.85 billion for the same period.

Although Nigeria has a population of over 200 million, it is barely able to supply 5,000 megawatts of power to homes.

For instance, rather than an expected rise in power, the total volume of electricity supplied by Discos to customers in the first quarter of 2024 declined by 10.3 per cent, compared to Q4, 2023. But on a year-on-year basis, electricity supply decreased by 1.41 per cent in Q1, this year compared to Q1, 2023.

According to Ember, the world’s only open dataset on global electricity generation, updating  for 88 countries and regions every month, in contrast to Nigeria’s 4,000mw to 5,000mw, China generates 8,849 Terawatts per hour (TWh).

This is followed by the US, with 4,284 TWh; India which has 1,858 TWh and Russia with 1,167 TWh. In Africa, THISDAY checks revealed that Egypt has about 60,000mw of installed capacity.

Nigeria’s plan to raise power generation and supply has been largely hobbled by lack of investment in the sector, due mainly to the regulation or capping of tariffs by the federal government.

There’s also the challenge of incessant vandalism of electricity assets by disgruntled persons in parts of the country as well as massive theft of electricity even by privileged persons.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, recently assured that Nigeria was going to generate 6,000mw of electricity before the end of this year.

During his ministerial address in Abuja, while presenting achievements of his ministry since President Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, the minister said the country’s power generation rose to 5,000mw on May 3, 2024, being the first time in three years.

Adelabu vowed that power generation in Nigeria would hit 6,000mw before the end of this year, going by the improvements in the sector in the last year.

“On generation capacity, let me say that 5,000mw of power was achieved in May 2024 for the first time in three years. Precisely on May 3, 2024, we generated, transmitted and distributed 5,003.45mw of power.

“We all know where we were before now. But we rose to the occasion and changed the situation for the better, and our target is to achieve 6,000mw before the end of this year, which will be the first time in the history of Nigeria, and it will happen,” the minister stressed..

Adelabu said that there had been a series of infrastructural upgrades in the last year, pointing out that the ongoing Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) was one of the programmes ensuring the improvement of power supply in Nigeria.