BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The 13 licensed Distribution Companies in Nigeria grew revenue by 89 percent in six years, rising to about N526.8billion.
The figure rose from about N278.89billion in 2015 to about N526.8billion in 2020, according to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The disaggregated revenue collected across different DisCos in the country in 2020 shows that Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company had the highest revenue collections with N102.1billion followed by Eko Electricity Distribution Company with N81.39 billion, while the least was recorded in Yola Electricity Distribution Company with N10.64bilion.
Generally, the Electricity Distribution Companies customer numbers in Nigeria increased consecutively over the last six years.
In 2015, 6.99 million customers were recorded, and the figure rose to 7.35 million in the succeeding year. This increased further to 7.95 million customers in 2017, showing a growth rate of 8.14 per cent.
While the trend continued, 2018 and 2019 recorded 8.63 million and 9.55 million customers respectively, accounting for an 8.60 percent growth rate in 2018 and a 10.71 percent growth rate in 2019. Subsequently, customer numbers in 2020 stood at 10.37 million, higher by 8.49 per cent relative to 2019.
Customer numbers under the reviewed period (2015-2020) increased successively on a year-on-year basis, with the highest numbers recorded in Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company. Generally, it rose from 6.99 million in 2015 to 10.37 million in 2020.
Similarly, the number of metered customers increased consecutively on a year-on-year basis from 3.15 million in 2015 to 3.80 million in 2019 but declined to 3.51 million in 2020. In 2015, Benin Electricity Distribution Company recorded the highest number, while IBEDC stood top between 2016 and 2019. Abuja Electricity Distribution Company recorded the highest in 2020.
Estimated billing customer records also show a year-on-year positive growth rate consecutively from 3.85 million in 2015 to 6.86 million in 2020. In 2020, the customer numbers were highest in IBEDC with 1,282,136 and lowest in Eko Distribution Company with 269,022.
Electricity supplied during the period moved from 20,337.40 Gigawatt hours in 2015 to 22,042.28 GWh in 2020.
Although the growth rates of electricity supply nationwide were negative in 2016 and 2020, there was an improvement in 2017, 2018, and 2019. A closer look at the performance of the distribution companies shows that Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company recorded the highest distribution in 2020 with 4,158.87 GWh, while Yola Electricity Distribution Company had the least with 557.00 GWh.
