September 10, (THEWILL) – The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has 1.33 million estimated-billing customers – the highest among the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) in Nigeria, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The statistics bureau in its Nigeria Electricity Report for the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 published Wednesday, revealed that estimated-billing customers during the quarter were 6 million, higher by 0.72 percent from 5.96 million in Q1 2023.
According to the NBS, on a year-on-year basis, estimated customers increased by 2.58 percent in Q2 2023 from 5.85 million in Q2 2022, as the country grapples with perennially poor power and inadequate meter supply.
Ibadan also belongs to the league of top four revenue generating DisCos: Ikeja (IEDC) with N52.29 billion, Eko (EKDC) N43.29 billion, and Abuja (AEDC), which raked in N43.07 billion.
The Ibadan zone (which covers Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and parts of Niger, Ekiti and Kogi states), pooled N27.41 billion to rank fourth during the period.
The NBS said that the total customer numbers in Q2 2023 stood at 11.47 million from 11.27 million in Q1 2023, showing an increase of 1.84 percent. On a year-on-year basis, customer numbers in Q2 2023 rose by 6.17% from 10.81 million reported in Q2 2022.
Similarly, metered customers stood at 5.47 million in Q2 2023, indicating a growth of 3.10 percent from 5.31 million recorded in the preceding quarter. On a year-on-year basis, this grew by 10.40 percent from the figure reported in Q2 2022 which was 4.96 million.
Without significant improvement in power supply, revenue collected by the DisCos during the period rose to N263.08 billion from N247.33 billion in Q1 2023.
On a year-on-year basis, revenue generated in the reference period rose by 39.63 percent from N188.41 billion recorded in Q2 2022.
Electricity supply improved slightly, rising to 5,909.83 (Gwh) in Q2 2023 from 5,851.87 (Gwh) in the previous quarter. However, on a year-on-year basis, electricity supply increased by 13.06 percent compared to 5,226.97 (Gwh) reported in Q2 2022
Estimated billing is a system of arbitrary charging against unmetered electricity consumers for electricity (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 targets 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 is driven by tardy inclination to exploitation which defines a commodity in the category of monopoly,” said Gabriel Madu, an electrical installation contractor.
Although the NERC has reiterated an end to estimated billing with adequate metering, in reality, the country is far from reaching that target. The meters are hardly seen in the quantity being declared by the authorities.
Since the Federal Government introduced the metering system in 2018, it has maintained that electricity consumers face no hurdles in procuring meters.
The government has on several occasions declared that it had millions of units of the pre-paid metres for supply to the consumers. But that is contrary to what obtains in the industry where corruption and sabotage have been elevated to an art of priority.
In reality, many Nigerians are yet to exit the estimated electricity billing fraud due to the high cost of meters, which the DisCos are supposed to release under the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) programme.
Besides the cost, the supply system is very slow and anxious consumers are subjected to various extortions, all in the guise of processing fees. To crown it all, many of them have to endure long periods of inactivation of the meters for one technical reason or the other.
The recently announced an increase in the price of metres with immediate effect. It said that a single-phase meter, which measures electricity for smaller homes, will now cost N81,975.16. This is more expensive than before, when it was N58,661.69. The price of a three-phase meter, used for bigger places, is going up too. It will now cost N143,836.10, up from N109,684.36.
The consumers being supplied with the estimated metre are charged for the transportation and other routine matters that ordinarily should be the responsibility of the DisCos. And the most ironic is that the meters are properties of the DisCos.
“In a country of highly unstable power supply, the prepaid meter is the only panacea to prevent undue exploitation of consumers from the estimated billing system of power distribution companies.
“The Federal Government ought to pay a greater attention to the frustrations being experienced by many Nigerians in the course of procuring prepaid electricity meters.
“But the racketeering is enriching the operators exceedingly; that is why they would stick to estimated billing,: said Mike Iheakor, a property developer.
The House of Representatives in 2019 passed a Bill prohibiting and criminalising the use of estimated electricity Bills in all instances except where a consumer’s meter cannot be accessed by the service provider.
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