The number of estimated billing customers held by Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) has continued to be on the increase, with the 11 DisCos having a total of 5.95 million in Q1 2023.
This is 1.99 percent higher than the 5.84 million held on a year-on-year basis, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It is also 0/04 percent higher than the 5.93 estimated billing customers the DisCos had in their books in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Estimated billing is a system of arbitrary charging against unmetered electricity consumers for electrical energy they did not actually consume. The billing is based on perceived pattern of consumption, or on the ‘best of judgement’, with unjustified high revenue target as the motive.
Consumers in this system are mandated to pay far above what they consumed on a monthly basis and the charges are usually outrageous. It is a system that thrives on corruption and driven by tardy inclination to exploitation which defines a commodity in the category of monopoly.
While the estimated billing customers increase, the NBS report also showed that total revenue collected by the DisCos during the period was N247.33 billion from N232.32 billion in Q4 2022.
On a year-on-year basis, revenue generated in the reference period rose by 20.81 percent from N204.74 billion recorded in Q1 2022. Electricity supply was 5,852 (Gwh) in Q1 2023 from 5,611 (Gwh) in the previous quarter. However, on a year-on-year basis, electricity supply declined by 1.74 percent compared to 5,956 (Gwh) reported in Q1 2022
The NBS report further showed that total customer numbers in Q1 2023 stood at 11.27 million from 11.06 million in Q4 2022, showing an increase of 1.89%.
On a year-on-year basis, customer numbers in Q1 2023 rose by 5.99% from 10.63 million reported in Q1 2022. Similarly, metered customers stood at 5.31 million in Q1 2023, indicating a growth of 3.61 percent from 5.13 million recorded in the preceding quarter. On a year-on-year basis, this grew by 10.86 percent from the figure reported in Q1 2022 which was 4.79 million.
The report showed that Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has 1.323,553 estimated billing customers – the highest among the DisCos, as the country grapples with perennially poor supply,
Ibadan also belongs to the league of top revenue generating DisCos – after Ikeja (IEDC), Eko (EKDC) and Abuja (AEDC), which raked in N49.7 billion, N41.7 billion and N38.2 billion respectively in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.
Ibadan (which covers Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and parts of Niger, Ekiti and Kogi states), pooled N24.5 billion during the period.
Yola, Kaduna and Jos DisCos had the lowest revenue pools: N4.9 billion, N7.7 billion and N8.8 billion respectively.
The DisCos’ estimated billing customer numbers rose to 5.95 million from 5.91 million in Q3 22. Ibadan had a total of 1.3 million, representing 22 percent of the entire estimated billing customers.
The DisCos had a total of N5.2 million metered customers in Q1 2023 as against 5.1 million in the preceding quarter, while 11.0 million customers were in their registers during the reporting period, compared to 10.9 million in Q1 2023.
The federal government has announced a 40 percent electricity tariff hike effective JULY 1, 2023 which the organized labour has kicked against, raising fears of imminent strike by the workers which recently suspended a similar act over the removal of fuel subsidy at the beginning of the Tinubu-led administration.
It is also feared that the proposed hike in electricity tariff will worsen the rising inflation in the economy. According to the NBS, the inflation rate rose from 22.22 per cent in April to 22.41 per cent in June amidst an increase in the prices of food items, transportation and energy.
The Bureau noted that within a year, the rate had accrued a difference of 4.70 per cent from May 2022, where the inflation was 17.71 per cent, until May 2023.
Items like food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.61 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel (3.75 per cent), clothing & footwear (1.71 per cent), transport (1.46 per cent), among others contributed largely on the divisional level to the increase in the headline.
Also, the report on the food inflation rate showed that food inflation rate quickened from 24.61 per cent in April, to 24.82 per cent in May and on a year-on-year basis, was 5.33 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2022 (19.50 per cent).
The bureau further informed that the increase in prices of food on a year-on-year basis was a result of an increase in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetables, and spirits.
However, the report added that the core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 20.06 per cent in May 2023 on a year-on-year basis; up by 5.16 per cent when compared to the 14.90 per cent recorded in May 2022.
Meanwhile, the report indicated that the highest increase was recorded in prices of gas, passenger transport by air, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, passenger transport by road and high electricity tariff.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
