6 in 10 electricity customers in Nigeria not metered – World Bank

…Says businesses lose $29bn annually to poor electricity

Lagos — The World Bank on Wednesday said 6 in 10 registered electricity customers in Nigeria are not metered.

According to the Bank’s Practice Manager, West and Central Africa Energy, Ashish Khanna, the inability to meter electricity customers results in apathy towards payment of electricity bills.

“Six in 10 of registered customers are not metered, and their electricity bills are not transparent and clear. This contributes to resistance to pay electricity bills,” Khanna said during a presentation of the Power Sector Recovery Programme fact sheet.

The Bank said businesses in Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually as a result of unreliable power supply, adding that the country has the largest number of people without access to electricity in the world.

 “Businesses in Nigeria lose about $29bn annually because of unreliable electricity. Nigerian utilities get paid for only a half of electricity they receive.

“For every N10 worth of electricity received by Discos (distribution companies), about N2.60 is lost in poor distribution infrastructure and through power theft and another N3.40 is not being paid for by customers,” the bank said.

The document further stated that only 51 per cent of installed capacity was available for generation, as an average Nigerian consumed four times less energy than his/her counterpart in a typical lower middle-income country.