Power consumption registration at 10m
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Customer registration by electricity distribution companies (DisCos) has stagnated at 10 million for the past two years and only 4.7 million or 47 per cent of those registered have meters.
Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) data shows the number of registered customers and the percentage of those metered were compiled in the fourth quarter ended December 2021 (Q4 2021).
“At the end of 2021, over 10 million customers were registered, with approximately 47 per cent metered”, ANED said in its latest Commercial KPIs Q4 2021 report for its members.
The yearly rate of metered customers shows
- 2018 – 42 per cent
- 2019 – 40 per cent
- 2020 – 40 per cent
- 2021 – 47 per cent
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) quarterly report for Q4 2019 said inadequate metering was a serious challenge with only 3,918,322 (37.77 per cent) metered out of the total customer population of 10,374,597.
Metered customers rose to 47 per cent in 2021, facilitated by the National Mass Metering Programme, but the number of registered customers remained stagnant at 10 million, as stated in NERC report in 2019 and ANED report in 2021.
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EKEDC disputes percentage of metered customers
Both NERC and ANED did not explain why the registration of the customers of Discos stalled at 10 million despite over N2 trillion investment in the sector.
Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) spokesperson Godwin Idemudia disagreed with both NERC and ANED over the number of registered customers.
“Our customer population is increasing. Is it in terms of metering or customer base? I sincerely do not agree with that statistic at all,” Idemudia said, per The PUNCH.
“Based on the economy, people are building houses and Nigerians are opening up businesses. With that in mind, there is a need to have power connected to such investments.
“Are we now insinuating that Nigeria has been stagnant for years? It sounds unrealistic as far as I am concerned.
“I am not condemning the source of your information, but I believe we need to look deep into such claims. I do not believe EKEDC specifically provided any data to show we have been stagnant over the years.”
