Success Nwogu 
An analyst in the power sector, Kevin Igboezue, has said that mass prepaid metering will reduce the huge debt owed to electricity distribution companies in Nigeria.
He said it was sad that Nigerian electricity users owed DisCos N385.7 billion in 2023. In an interview with New Telegraph over the weekend, he called on the a Federal Government to intensify efforts to ensure that more electricity users have access to prepaid meters.
According to him, huge indebtedness to DisCos by electricity consumers has many negative consequences in the power sector and the economy. He stated that it would reduce the capacity of the service providers (DisCos) from providing electricity.
He added that this would retard business growth, industrialisation, science and technology and the general socio-economic development of the nation. Igboezue said: “It is sad and counter-productive that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in its latest report stated that the debt profile of Nigerian electricity users stands at N385.7 billion as of 2023.
“Efforts must be made by relevant stakeholders to ad – dress this negative trend. The government should make it possible for more customers to have prepaid meters. When they do, estimated billings will reduce or stop while consumers will now use only what they paid for.
“In that case, DisCos will be paid for their services while there will be no more accusation of huge estimated billings on the users by DisCos.” NERC had in the report stated that the bill collection efficiency stood at 73.65%, with distribution companies (DisCos) receiving N1.07 trillion during the same period.
It explained that the distribution companies, which had an offtake performance capacity of around 94 per cent from the national grid, issued N1.4 trillion in electricity bills but collected only N1.07 trillion.
According to the report, this showed a significant shortfall in payments. The NERC report also revealed that in 2023, DisCos received a total invoice of N858.033 billion for energy supplied by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and for service charges by the Market Operator (MO).
