EKEDC Accuses Hotels, Wealthy Residents of Widespread Electricity Theft
- EKEDC says electricity theft is more prevalent among high-income residents and major hotels
- The company says it uncovered cases of hotels illegally bypassing meters, leading to heavy losses
- EKEDC CEO says smart metering is key to reducing theft and improving revenue collection
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Oluwatobi Odeyinka is a business editor at Legit.ng, covering energy, the money market, technology and macroeconomic trends in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Rekhiat Momoh, has raised concerns over widespread electricity theft by high-income residents and major hotels, describing the practice as a major driver of the financial and operational challenges facing Nigeria’s power sector.
Momoh disclosed this while speaking at a PwC power roundtable held recently in Lagos, where she said energy theft is more common in affluent areas and often involves influential individuals and large commercial establishments.
She explained that electricity theft by wealthy consumers has a far greater impact on the system than illegal connections by low-income users, PUNCH reported.
Source: Getty Images
She explained that EKEDC has uncovered cases of well-known hotels, including four-star facilities, illegally bypassing meters, which has significantly increased losses on the distribution network.
Momoh said the company is currently in court over one such case and declined to mention the name of the hotel involved.
She added that these practices worsen the burden on the power system and other customers.
EKEDC currently serves over 700,000 customers
The EKEDC boss disclosed that the company currently serves about 789,000 customers and has outlined short-, medium- and long-term strategies to improve performance.
She said the immediate focus is on achieving commercial efficiency and closing revenue gaps, while medium-term plans centre on improving technology and customer experience.
Momoh explained that the long-term goal is to achieve market effectiveness. She added that despite the privatisation of Nigeria’s power sector, deep-rooted structural and operational challenges remain.
She described electricity as a critical driver of economic growth, stressing that persistent power problems continue to limit the country’s development.
EKEDC adopts smart metering
She blamed decades of reliance on manual metering for exposing the sector to fraud and inefficiencies, noting that the lack of real-time monitoring systems has made it difficult to promptly detect faults and energy theft.
According to her, EKEDC is currently the only distribution company using a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, although only 15 of its 54 substations are connected.
She said the system needs further upgrades to improve efficiency and monitoring.
Momoh said the company has taken steps to reduce downtime by acquiring five fault locators, each costing about N490 million, to speed up fault detection and restoration.
She added that delayed fault reporting and manual processes often lead to prolonged outages.
EKEDC under financial pressure
On the financial state of the sector, the EKEDC chief said distribution companies are under severe pressure, with banks unwilling to provide loans based on what she described as “paper profits.” She explained that lenders are more interested in actual cash flow.
She also highlighted inadequate power generation as a key challenge, noting that while Nigeria’s installed capacity is about 13,000 megawatts, available generation fluctuates between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatts.
debts, poor infrastructure affecting DisCos
Momoh said legacy debts worth trillions of naira, poor revenue collection, unpaid bills by government ministries, departments and agencies, and uncollectable customer debts continue to weigh heavily on distribution companies.
She also pointed to ageing and dilapidated infrastructure in parts of EKEDC’s network, which increases technical losses.
Despite these challenges, she said smart metering remains a critical solution to tackling electricity theft, improving efficiency and reducing revenue leakages.
She added that high interest rates and vandalism, even in upscale areas such as Ikoyi, further complicate operations.
Source: Getty Images
Vandalism results in power supply to grid
Legit.ng earlier reported that electricity generation on Nigeria’s national grid has declined due to gas supply constraints linked to pipeline vandalism.
According to the Nigeria Independent System Operators, the incident affected gas availability to several power generation facilities, forcing it to activate contingency measures to stabilise the grid.
The incident follows a reported explosion on the Escravos–Lagos gas pipeline operated by an NNPC subsidiary.
Source: Legit.ng
