The 11 electricity distribution companies in Nigeria generated N247.33 billion as revenue in the first three months of 2023, in contrast to N204.74 billion realised as of March 2022, representing an increase of 20.8 percent on a year-on-year basis.
The first quarter revenue performance of the discos also amounted to a 6.5 percent increase when compared to N232.31 billion they realised during the last quarter of 2022.
The first quarter performance amounted to the generation of N2.75 billion on a daily basis. It is also an improvement over a daily revenue of N2.27 billion during the first quarter of 2022, and N2.58 billion during the last quarter of 2022.
When ranked by size, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Disco), Eko Electricity Distribution Company(Eko Disco), and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (Abuja Disco) generated the most revenue to the tune of N49.76 billion; N41.73 billion and N38.12 billion respectively.
They are followed by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (Ibadan Disco) N24.55 billion; Benin Electricity Distribution Company (Benin Disco), N20.12 billion, and the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (Enugu Disco), N18.944 billion.
Others are the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PH Disco), N17.69 billion; Kano Electricity Distribution Company (Kano Disco), N8.81 billion; Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (Kaduna Disco), N7,71 billion, and Yola Electricity Distribution Company (Yola Disco), N4.94 billion.
In terms of revenue growth, Yola, Eko and Port Harcourt discos posted the best performance during the quarter. Yola Discos increased its revenue by 65.9 percent from N2.98 billion as of March 2022 to N4.94 billion by the end of March 2023.
Eko Disco raised its revenue by 34.1 percent from N31.11 billion as of March 2022 to N41.73 billion by March 2023. The increase in the Port Harcourt Discos’ revenue was 31.9 percent during the first quarter from N13.41 billion to N17.69 billion during the reference period.
The least performing discos are Ibadan, Enugu, and Kaduna. The revenue generated by the Ibadan Discos rose by just 7.6 percent from N22.81 billion to N24.55 billion
Enugu Disco increased its revenue by just 0.4 percent from N18.86 billion to N18.94 billion during the period.
The odd one out is the Kaduna Discos which experienced a decline in revenue generation. its quarterly income declined by 2.8 percent to N7.70 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2023 as against N7.99 billion made in Q1 2022.
All the 11 discos supplied 5,852GHh of electricity as of March 2023, compared to 5,956 GWh supplied as of March 2022, amounting to a decline of 1.7 percent.
The topmost three discos in terms of electricity supply are Ikeja, 1,005 GWh, Eko, 828GWh, and Abuja, 750 GWh. The discos that supplied the least electricity are Jos, 339GWh, Kaduna, 264GWh, and Yola, 141GWh.
Estimated customers stood at 5.95 million as of March 2023, with Ibadan disco accounting for 1.32 million customers, representing 22.2 percent of the total estimated customers during the quarter.
And in addition to Enugu, Kaduna and Benin discos, with 701,412; 626,857, and 599, 081 estimated customers, the four discos accounted for 54.6 percent of the total estimated customers during the first quarter of 2023.
The total number of metered customers stood at 5.3 million as of March 2023. The top four discos having the highest number of customers are Ibadan, 943,315; Ikeja, 810,832; Abuja, 782,713, and Benin, 615,296 metered customers, as the four discos accounted for 59.3 percent to the total metered customers during the period.
Ibadan Disco has already initiated moves to address the challenge of the rising number of unmetered customers with Easy MAPS.
“With the Easy MAPS, all customers need to do is pay into the designated bank accounts for their location and send proof of payment with their meter/account numbers, address to the designated WhatsApp numbers. Once the payment is verified, a team of our trained technicians will be sent to the customer’s location for evaluation and installation.
“This process eliminates all the initial process of registration etc. that many customers especially the semi-literate struggle with and which inadvertently exposes them to being scammed by unscrupulous agents posing to help them get metered easily. With this new process, we are providing a more customer-centric approach to metering,” Engr. Kinsley Achife, managing director, Ibadan Disco, said in April 2023.
