In the first quarter of 2024, the Nigerian Federal Government paid an astounding ₦633.30 billion in electricity subsidies, according to the quarterly report published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The federal government paid ₦252.76 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023; this amounts to a 150.5% rise to N633.30 billion.
The considerable increase is ascribed to the government’s strategy of coordinating exchange rates and the lack of cost-reflective prices among all electrical distribution providers.
The distribution firms (DisCos) only collected ₦291.62 billion of the ₦368.65 billion they were billed by customers, indicating a revenue shortfall even with the significant subsidy.
With 5,769.52 GWh of energy invoiced to end-user customers, the total energy received by all DisCos was 7,171.93 GWh, which explains the energy billing efficiency of 80.45% overall.
With ₦57.88 billion, ₦48.74 billion, and ₦5.46 billion, respectively, Ikeja DisCo led the income collection table. Eko DisCo and Yola DisCo came in second and third, respectively.