Investors Worried As Discos Are Unable To Collect N54 Billion In Electricity Bills From Consumers

• The liquidity crisis may worsen for electricity distribution companies in Nigeria, as they have been unable to recover all their money
• A NERC report shows the billions of naira remain uncollected in just one month, and the amount continues to pile up month after month
• This is a cause of concern for investors, as the gencos and discos are also dealing with debts owed by the government

Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

Despite efforts by electricity generation and distribution companies in Nigeria to consolidate revenues and address liquidity challenges, a recent report indicates a persistent accumulation of outstanding electricity bills.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) reported that in February 2025, electricity distribution companies (Discos) were unable to collect approximately ₦54 billion of the total billed amount.

Out of N245.93 billion billed to customers, the Discos recovered N191.75 billion, marking a 77% revenue collection efficiency.

It also shows an improvement in revenue collection by 6.56% compared to the previous month, January 2025.

However, the uncollected bills are piling to worrisome heights. Recall that there was also an unrecouped N50 billion in October 2024.

Billing efficiency improves across the Discos

The billing efficiency for February 2025 showed an improvement, with Discos billing 2,137 gigawatt-hours of the 2,583.19 GWh of electricity received.

The 82.73% billing efficiency is 1.81% better than that of January 2025, a comfort for investors.

During February 2025, Discos collected an average of ₦88.21 per kilowatt-hour, falling short of the allowed average tariff of ₦116.18 per kWh. This marks 75.9% recovery efficiency, about 10.5% higher than the previous month.

List of Discos and amounts recovered

Abuja Disco recovered N31.7 billion out of N35.67 billion in February 2025. The 89.03% revenue collection efficiency puts Abuja Disco in the lead.

Eko Disco recorded 88.76% collection efficiency, recovering N36.6 billion out of the total N41.24 billion billed to customers, the PUNCH reports.

Enugu Disco has 88.47% collection efficiency for the month, with N15.88 billion recovered from the customers out of a total of N17.95 billion.

Ikeja Disco recovered N33.35 billion out of total billings amounting to N41.18 billion, achieving 81% collection efficiency.

Ibadan Disco recorded 71.72% collection efficiency, recovering N19.28 billion of the N26.88 billion billed to customers in the seven states where it operates.

The NERC factsheet shows that out of N6.44 billion in total billings, Aba Power collected N3.47 billion. This is a 53.90% revenue collection efficiency, the lowest so far.

Investors worried about liquidity problems

Recall that the federal government is still yet to clear over N4 trillion owed to Gencos and Discos, a situation which the power minister, Adebayo Adelabu, said has crippled the companies from investing in the much-needed infrastructure.

The low recovery rate creates another cause for worry among investors in this sector.

Stakeholders have opined that metering all customers will eradicate the problem, but even the federal government’s support to accelerate metering has not yielded the desired results.

In the absence of these prepaid meters, disputes continue to occur between the customers and discos about the accuracy of the estimated billings when compared to actual consumption.

Recently, the NERC sanctioned eight Discos for overbilling.

NERC sanctions seven Discos over minimum PCC

In related news, the NERC Quarterly report for Q4 2024 showed that not all Discos met the minimum required energy for consumers.

The NERC Performance Monitoring Framework Orders (NERC/2024/086 – 096) issued on July 5, 2024, mandates DisCos to offtake at least 95% of allocated capacity quarterly or face sanctions.

Abuja Disco, Kaduna Disco, and five others were sanctioned for failing to meet the minimum PCC requirement

Source: Legit.ng