The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) which is an umbrella body for the 10 private Discos in the country stated that electricity consumers paid N362bn out of the N520bn billed them by the distribution companies from January to September last year.
According to the association, the power firms lost N158bn, representing 30.38 per cent of the energy billed in the nine-month period.
The latest quarterly performance report of the association indicated that the Discos’ revenue collection rose to N130bn in the third quarter of 2020 from N105bn in the second quarter.
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ANED affirmed that the collection improved as a result of Discos’ effort to recoup losses during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Although the energy received by the Discos dropped by 4.3 per cent in the third quarter, the association said, “The Discos are back on track on their performance improvement after the fall due to the pandemic. Indeed, in September 2020, Discos collection reached a new record of N44.5bn.”
In line with the approval by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the tariffs being charged consumers receiving a minimum of 12 hours of power supply were increase on September 1, 2020 but it was suspended towards the end the end of the month.
ANED admitted that the Discos’ collection efficiency rose to 76.28 per cent in the third quarter. it however said, “The huge gap between the reality and the fiction of the MYTO model is creating a huge shortfall and the real revenue collection is far from the minimum remittance obligations.”
According to the group, the energy to be received by the Discos continues to be flat, low and far from any of NERC’s projections under the MYTO financial model.
It said, “Since 2015, there has been no significant improvement in the energy generated and wheeled by TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria), that is finally received by the Discos. It continues to be flat and is only affected by seasonal effect between the dry and rainy seasons.”
