Discos lose N20bn monthly to collection gap

Uday Mishra, the chief corporate service officer, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KADECO), says distribution companies (DISCOs) lose about N20 billion monthly across the country due to collection gap.

Mishra, in an interactive session with newsmen in Kaduna on the various challenges surrounding DISCOs in the country, said the major challenge as regards electricity distribution in the country is the nonpayment of bills by about 60 percent of consumers.

He said all DISCOs are barely surviving because they have just 40 percent of legal consumers on their billing net while the majority of consumers are involved in bypassing, theft, nonpayment of bills and direct hooking.

He regrets that honest consumers suffer infrequent electricity supply because they have to subsidise with other non-payers and electricity thieves as he calls on consumers to take care of their duties by paying bills and disengaging in any kind of electricity theft, saying, the company disconnects as last resort which is also costly and time wasting.

Mishra called on the government to subsidise electricity tariff for agriculture-related projects, low-income groups and the poor masses residing in the slums.

Lawal, the head of compliance, KADECO, revealed that the company is only entitled to 8 percent of the power generated daily in the country, which it distributes to Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi States.

“We have no option than to ration supply because electricity is solely dependent on gas in Nigeria. Our total demand is 600 megawatts but we rarely receive 300 for distribution daily, Kaduna even gets more supply due to high population and other economic activities when compared to the other states, though the supply is poor”, Lawal, an engineer said.