CapitanS:

You are talking arrant nonsense. So the discos are not making profit yet they remain in the business all these years and refused to get out? Which private entity will be running at a loss for that number of years and still remain solvent? They are making enough profit,
All this rubbish is happening because the electricity distribution business in nigeria is essentially a monopoly where a few companies are allocated territories which they monopolize and no other company is allowed to compete with them there. Let government completely deregulate that industry allow any of the companies that is interested to come in and invest in any territory they want to then you will know that the discos are making more than enough profit. The electricity tariff will even crash down and they will still be in the business.

Well.they are being kept alive by goverment subsides and by the fact that they still make some money

Just not enough to make the needed improvements. Which according to one group may be as high as 30 billion a year

Surely24:
Those guys don't care for a common man

no be so bro, when you are into business of such it business first, just like subsidy let everything go back to private sector but it must not be concentrated in one hand , let company that can generate power generate and distribute at the same time ... no middle man like what we have now then we can now have sufficient power

as its now we are pay double money .... disco and genco generate sell it to distribution company who are largely money oriented and always maximixe profit who later distribute to us

why can we allow the like of genco and disco maybe some other company that can generate to also sell direct to customer thereby reduce transmission money on us

Modrov:


It costs 73 naira to make one kwh of power.

We pay between N53 to 71 per unit.

30 to 40% of customers don't pay a dime

Discos are running losses in the trillions as a result.

See the problem.?

How did you arrive at the figure 73 naira? A few years ago we paid less than 15 naira per kwh. What percentage of customers pay over the odds in the name of estimated billing?

Modrov:


We are.paying for power

Not at the price the discos need it to be to make a profit.

That's why.

Meanwhile in the GSM sector we have bettwr telephony than we did in the 1980s because we paid rates that enabled the GSM companies to make a profit to build up all the infrastructure that we use to chat and browse.

Do you know how much these guys make from estimated billing? Let me give you an example. In my area(rural), we used to pay around 5k for an estimated usage of about 150kw monthly(20 days in a month).

Then prepaid meters came and we realize that even the "heavy" consumers among us don't even use up to 100kw monthly. I guess they realised how much they stood to lose so they stopped metering immediately.

As if that was not bad enough, we started getting less rations (from 20 days a month to 10 days a month now) and guess what happened to our monthly bills. You guessed right - they went up! How do you justify that?

Oga, we're currently paying for much more than we consume and that should make up for any shortfall in tariffs, if any. The corruption in the electricity distribution sector is beyond massive and can only be limited with prepaid metering.

Andyvilly:
Naira is loosing it's spending power, only solution to all these it's to adopt a foreign currency and go back to colonial era, we are not capable of being independent.

SIMPLE

All these incessant increment in the prices of goods and services without a corresponding increase in wages/salaries across the nation is a resultant effect of the devaluation of the NAIRA.

You're just talking in the nonsense. All these their involuntary price hikes is cuz they are in an essential sector i.e power. If not, most Nigerians would have naturally stop patronizing them. Let them continue to increase tariffs. All I know is that nothing lasts forever. Even Nigeria will not remain a country forever!

Modrov:


We are.paying for power

Not at the price the discos need it to be to make a profit.

That's why.

Meanwhile in the GSM sector we have bettwr telephony than we did in the 1980s because we paid rates that enabled the GSM companies to make a profit to build up all the infrastructure that we use to chat and browse.

Modrov:


Telecoms had two advantages power companies didn't

1. They were allowed to set their own price. Power companies cannot do that. Their price is I essence determined by Nerc. And every time the price is always kept at a level below the cost of production

2. Banks and other financial agencies as a result are willing to lend to telecommunications companies ( even jokes like 9mobile).

Because discos due to goverment con trolling prices run at a loss, no bank would lend to them


Thus GSM companies have cash to invest. Discos have losses of trillions of naira and no one wants to lend them money at all.

I don'tknow if you are old enough(i don't mean this as an insult please) to remember what happened when GSM rolled out in the country. These guys consistently told us how impossible it was for tariffs to drop. How we were not ripe for per second billing. Not until glo broke in.

In the pay TV sector, the exact same is happening. We're not ripe for pay per view but they frustrate any company that tries to break in like glo did (Hitv, TSTV etc comes to mind). They've probably learnt from experience.

These guys just want to make money without working. And I don't really blame them. They're only mirroring our government officials.

Modrov:


Yeah but the reason why there were so many companies to compete was because they were allowed to set their price .And thus make a profit. This attracted more companies more money more competition and more investment and price falling

Sim cards used to be very very expensive. Infact making calls also used to be very expensive. People back then were virtually calling on goverment to set prices .thankfully they did not


Discos canmot set their prices, thus they run at a loss, and thus they also canmot attract investment. Also they are virtual monopolies in their region of service due to the way the laws were set up.

By the way I don't work for the discos. I began reading up around the issues in the sector from 2013. It's an ongoing endeavour

No they don't. Let some one from the inside tell you. You will know what is going on. They make huge profits. The corrupt practices going on in that company is just too much .

FILEBE:



No they don't. Let some one from the inside tell you. You will know what is going on. They make huge profits. The corrupt practices going on in that company is just too much .

Well, they don't , as this Nairametrics article tells you...

Electricity distribution companies in Nigeria (DISCOs) suffered a reduced tariff collection efficiency in Q2 2020 from 68.04% in 2020 Q1 to 64.4% in 2020 Q2, with a recorded loss of N58 billion unpaid electricity dues.

This according to the Q2 report of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) on analysis of the commercial KPIs of member DISCOs.

According to the report, of the N163 billion billed by the 10 DISCOs in 2020 Q2, they only recouped N105 billion – representing a 64.4% collection efficiency.
Data from the report suggests that Covid-19 induced disruptions and lockdown negatively impacted the commercial performance and collection efficiency of the companies, which had improved over the last three quarters.

The report noted that of the 10 DISCO, Abuja DISCO recorded the highest collection efficiency (86.94%), significantly higher than that of Eko DISCO (73.26%).

Also, below is a page from a 2018 report on 'Solving the liquidity challenges in the power sector' It makes for interesting reading.

Confused people

emorse:

I don'tknow if you are old enough(i don't mean this as an insult please) to remember what happened when GSM rolled out in the country. These guys consistently told us how impossible it was for tariffs to drop. How we were not ripe for per second billing. Not until glo broke in.

Yes, even companies don't know simple economics at times. When there is competiton, prices will fall.

Plus, the companies were building our GSM network from scratch...and it was costing them a lot of money. That's why they made such a comment.

In the pay TV sector, the exact same is happening. We're not ripe for pay per view but they frustrate any company that tries to break in like glo did (Hitv, TSTV etc comes to mind). They've probably learnt from experience.

Hitv MADE a lot of mistakes.
1.They thought that Nigerians got cable for just football....when it is for a host of things.
2.They also could not get enough subscribers to pay for the huge expenses they were incurring in paying for rights to football.
3.Their bouquet was bad.

And anyway, TSTV too made some mistakes...including lying about a deal with Bein sports to broadcast permier league matches...which in essence was wrong.

Plus, we have alterantives to DSTV like Startimes. Which is cheaper, and which many people use. DSTV wins because of the vairety they offer.

These guys just want to make money without working. And I don't really blame them. They're only mirroring our government officials.

I advise you to google, when you have the time...the PWC report Solving the liquidity crunch in the power sector.

skayT:
You're just talking in the nonsense. All these their involuntary price hikes is cuz they are in an essential sector i.e power. If not, most Nigerians would have naturally stop patronizing them. Let them continue to increase tariffs. All I know is that nothing lasts forever. Even Nigeria will not remain a country forever!

Even in Biafra and oodua...so long as you don't pay a price that enables power companies to make a profit to pay for improvements in facilites, staff welfare, upgrades, etc...you will still get bad power.

emorse:

Do you know how much these guys make from estimated billing? Let me give you an example. In my area(rural), we used to pay around 5k for an estimated usage of about 150kw monthly(20 days in a month).

Then prepaid meters came and we realize that even the "heavy" consumers among us don't even use up to 100kw monthly. I guess they realised how much they stood to lose so they stopped metering immediately.

As if that was not bad enough, we started getting less rations (from 20 days a month to 10 days a month now) and guess what happened to our monthly bills. You guessed right - they went up! How do you justify that?

Oga, we're currently paying for much more than we consume and that should make up for any shortfall in tariffs, if any. The corruption in the electricity distribution sector is beyond massive and can only be limited with prepaid metering.

At estimated billing of 5000 for 150kwh is about N33.33 per kwh. which for something that two years ago cost N53 per kwh to make and N73 per kwh now to make is relatively cheap.

Barryseal:

How did you arrive at the figure 73 naira? A few years ago we paid less than 15 naira per kwh. What percentage of customers pay over the odds in the name of estimated billing?

Reading online. Plus, about two years ago, according to Moghalu, the former CBN deputy governor, it was N53 per kwh.

Also keep in mind that costs may be higher due to the fact that

1,Gencos pay for gas in dollars, not naira

2.Losses on the grid....transmission losses.

Modrov:


Reading online. Plus, about two years ago, according to Moghalu, the former CBN deputy governor, it was N53 per kwh.

Also keep in mind that costs may be higher due to the fact that

1,Gencos pay for gas in dollars, not naira

2.Losses on the grid....transmission losses.

We like being vague in this country. Moghalu is not a power engineer. I will prefer to hear from experts like Prof Bath Naji. Would like to see the cost breakdown of how 73 naira per Kwh was arrived at by the Gencos. Its to convenient to quote figures to suit a narrative and sell to gullible Nigerians who just cant interrogate those figures.

authority2006:


Lol, I'm not going to label as you as DISCO staff but I will tell you to stop deceiving yourself.

Okay comrade economist.

One, FG is still subsidising the energy that DISCOs are buying from the GENCOs. I'm not saying subsidising for the customers but subsidising for the DISCOs

Yes, they do, to the tune of 1.3 trillion naira over the last several years. But the losses DISCOS make are higher than that, so the subsidy does nowt.
Subsidies cannot cover losses adequately. That's because costs of production are not static....they can rise and fall. That's why not paying subsides and allowing the evil capitalists to set their price is the only proven way to keep them earning enough to satisfy costs of production.

.

Two, have you ever been given estimated bill? I was given monthly estimated bill of 20k for 7 months before prepaid was given to me. Now, the total amount of debt on our prepaid meter is 200k out of which we have paid 50k within 3 months apart from the cost of energy we're buying. But I'm happy to tell you that we didn't consume that 20k energy per month. That's exactly what over 80% of their customers are facing today.

Yeah, I do support everyone getting a meter (I used to pay estimated billiing for a one bedroom flat. By the time I moved I was paying between N5000-11000 monthly. Moved to a flat with a prepaid meter, head to the DISCO office to pay N6000 to load the meter, DISCO officer looks at me like I had brought in a king's ransom or something.)

Thirdly, do we even have a stable power supply? No. But customers on estimated billing which are the majority are being billed for 24/7 power supply! Is that fair?

Yeah, and to fix the power supply we need money. A lot of money. Which is why DISCOS and GENCOS need to be allowed to operate profitably so that they can fix all that up with the profits they make.

And for beleiving in this, I have been called names. By people who won't accept the nonsense government forces on DISCOS on their businesses.

Fourthly, are these DISCOs even investing according to their agreement with FG? No! People are still buying transformers, main poles and cables in new communities. DISCOs staff just come to collect tariffs once such communities are connected to the power grid. Is that fair?

Again, when you don't let DISCOS make a profit, they won';t have the money to buy all the stuff they need. (Even then some discos do supply those things, eg ABUJA disco..)

Fifthly, are DISCOs even paying the GENCOs appropriately and as when due? Go and read up how much they're owing GENCOs. On top the fact that these DISCOs owners are smiling to the banks everyday.

Lol...disco owners are not smilling to the banks (One of their bosses even told a relaitive of mine who knows him that they are not rolling in money.)

DISCOS are actually losing money because they cannot earn enough money due to

1.Price controls by NERC.

2.Then as much as 30-40% of customers don't pay for power. Even having a prepaid meter means it can be bypassed. (A former landlord of mine had to pay a fine to a disco for a tenant who bypassed the meter, and refused to pay)

GENCOS too have to pay for gas in DOLLARS. And the gas companies, including that NNPC subsidiary NGC refuse to take Naira or any other currency.

Not possible because the billions you're talking about is in dollars, not naira. And it is not a few billions of dollars. You need to read the ridiculous clauses put in place in case FG wants to get it back.

It all boils down to 'a contract is a contract'.

P.S

I strongly suggest you read this report linked below. Also below is a page which summarizes the thing.

Solving the liquidity crunch in the power sector.

Modrov:


Well, they don't , as this Nairametrics article tells you...



Also, below is a page from a 2018 report on 'Solving the liquidity challenges in the power sector' It makes for interesting reading.

Why were they unwilling to give out prepaid meters if they don't make so much from estimated bills? Prepaid meters would have sold whatever revenue deficits they have or had. But guess what? They make so much from estimated readings than they would on prepaid meters, hence, they became reluctant to give them out.


I am telling you that you have to be in the system to know what is going on . Enquire from staffs and management and see .

FILEBE:




Why were they unwilling to give out prepaid meters if they don't make so much from estimated bills? Prepaid meters would have sold whatever revenue deficits they have or had. But guess what? They make so much from estimated readings than they would on prepaid meters, hence, they became reluctant to give them out

.

Which is why we had the MAP programme...which has rolled out a lot of meters to many people.

I am telling you that you have to be in the system to know what is going on . Enquire from staffs and management and see .

One management staff told a realtive of mine that they don't earn enough revenue from tarrif collections. Esppcailly in rural areas. Also a Abuja DISCO staff once commented that 70% of their REVENUE in the fct alone comes from the city limits. Most people in the rural areas and satellite towns of fct don't pay much.

Plus, if they were rolling in money like the telcos, they should be attracting investment . They should also be able to take loans.. tHE FACT THEY can't tells me a lot.

You can earn N2 billion in a month in your business, but if your projected earnings were N4 billion, that's still a loss. You are making a lot of money, but still losing money.

Modrov:


At estimated billing of 5000 for 150kwh is about N33.33 per kwh. which for something that two years ago cost N53 per kwh to make and N73 per kwh now to make is relatively cheap.

You obviously didn't read everything you quoted. The 150kwH was arbitrarily fixed and it was revealed that even the heaviest consumers among us don't consume that much. Not because they don't need but because they don't even get that much power. Thats why they stopped metering us.

Now they give us less than half of what we used to get(from 20 days to 10 days a month) and somehow, our monthly consumption has increased to about 290kwH. How does one rationalise that? Mind you, we don't get 24 hours power in a day o. And sometimes we don't even get power at all in a day so the 10 days a month is just on paper.

The only people who are free from this scam are those who were metered which these guys found a way block. Abegi Na person wey no know as e dey go Dem go dey use textbook English dey bobo.

Esseite:


Do you think the workings of an economy is based on just increase in everything and anything? .. there should always be balance.

There are factors to consider..
- You have 35% unemployment rate.
- Inflation in double digit.
- 50% below poverty line.

An increase would lead to increased inflation, more production from factories but less buying power, less product purchase and usage to minimize electricity, thereby more unemployment in various sectors...

Eg.. used my last AC unit for 4 years before it required change.. have used the "new" one for 8years now because it is barely turned on to save power. Now imagine what happens to the Aircondition market.

The only thing this will lead to is corruption

Because if you can't afford your standards because your salary can't match your spending then you look for more way to steal

Poverty increasing government

emorse:

You obviously didn't read everything you quoted. The 150kwH was arbitrarily fixed and it was revealed that even the heaviest consumers among us don't consume that much. Not because they don't need but because they don't even get that much power. Thats why they stopped metering us.

Which is why I also support metering everyone.

Now they give us less than half of what we used to get(from 20 days to 10 days a month) and somehow, our monthly consumption has increased to about 290kwH. How does one rationalise that? Mind you, we don't get 24 hours power in a day o. And sometimes we don't even get power at all in a day so the 10 days a month is just on paper

Which is why I support metering everyone..

The only people who are free from this scam are those who were metered which these guys found a way block. Abegi Na person wey no know as e dey go Dem go dey use textbook English dey bobo.

Which is why I support metering everyone.


P.S

If you have the time don't read this please

Esseite:


Do you think the workings of an economy is based on just increase in everything and anything? .. there should always be balance.

There are factors to consider..
- You have 35% unemployment rate.
- Inflation in double digit.
- 50% below poverty line.

An increase would lead to increased inflation, more production from factories but less buying power, less product purchase and usage to minimize electricity, thereby more unemployment in various sectors...

Eg.. used my last AC unit for 4 years before it required change.. have used the "new" one for 8years now because it is barely turned on to save power. Now imagine what happens to the Aircondition market.

Meanwhile, those new inverter ac really work, only they are a lot more expensive.

Abeg, where is oga Fashola?

Is electricity power now a rocket science?

Talk is really cheap. Las las Oga Fashola don humble. Him voice don disappear from media.

Modrov:
.

Which is why we had the MAP programme...which has rolled out a lot of meters to many people.




One management staff told a realtive of mine that they don't earn enough revenue from tarrif collections. Esppcailly in rural areas. Also a Abuja DISCO staff once commented that 70% of their REVENUE in the fct alone comes from the city limits. Most people in the rural areas and satellite towns of fct don't pay much.

Plus, if they were rolling in money like the telcos, they should be attracting investment . They should also be able to take loans.. tHE FACT THEY can't tells me a lot.

You can earn N2 billion in a month in your business, but if your projected earnings were N4 billion, that's still a loss. You are making a lot of money, but still losing money.

We had to fight tooth and nail to get meters. Even as it is .. it isn't easy to get. That is the corruption I am telling you about .


The staff that said they don't earn much from rural areas compard to cities is right. That is no brainer . I am talking about Ikedc and Ekedp. These people record any revenue they like and leave out what they want to embezzle . I am still telling you to find a truthful staff of these companies. He will tell you.

Currently Ikedp records more revenue than ekedp in books but in reality it is the other way round

Modrov:


Okay comrade economist.



Yes, they do, to the tune of 1.3 trillion naira over the last several years. But the losses DISCOS make are higher than that, so the subsidy does nowt.
Subsidies cannot cover losses adequately. That's because costs of production are not static....they can rise and fall. That's why not paying subsides and allowing the evil capitalists to set their price is the only proven way to keep them earning enough to satisfy costs of production.

.


Yeah, I do support everyone getting a meter (I used to pay estimated billiing for a one bedroom flat. By the time I moved I was paying between N5000-11000 monthly. Moved to a flat with a prepaid meter, head to the DISCO office to pay N6000 to load the meter, DISCO officer looks at me like I had brought in a king's ransom or something.)



Yeah, and to fix the power supply we need money. A lot of money. Which is why DISCOS and GENCOS need to be allowed to operate profitably so that they can fix all that up with the profits they make.

And for beleiving in this, I have been called names. By people who won't accept the nonsense government forces on DISCOS on their businesses.



Again, when you don't let DISCOS make a profit, they won';t have the money to buy all the stuff they need. (Even then some discos do supply those things, eg ABUJA disco..)



Lol...disco owners are not smilling to the banks (One of their bosses even told a relaitive of mine who knows him that they are not rolling in money.)

DISCOS are actually losing money because they cannot earn enough money due to

1.Price controls by NERC.

2.Then as much as 30-40% of customers don't pay for power. Even having a prepaid meter means it can be bypassed. (A former landlord of mine had to pay a fine to a disco for a tenant who bypassed the meter, and refused to pay)

GENCOS too have to pay for gas in DOLLARS. And the gas companies, including that NNPC subsidiary NGC refuse to take Naira or any other currency.




It all boils down to 'a contract is a contract'.

P.S

I strongly suggest you read this report linked below. Also below is a page which summarizes the thing.

Solving the liquidity crunch in the power sector.

Knowing the bolded should mean END OF STORY! I don't care what PWC, NAIRAMETRICS or any other organisation has to say about it. They derive their submissions from official figures which you(from the bolded), I and many others all know are not very accurate.

The corruption in that sector is what we are suffering from and not the "high" cost of production as they would have us believe.

jamace:
Abeg, where is oga Fashola?

Is electricity power now a rocket science?

Talk is really cheap. Las las Oga Fashola don humble. Him voice don disappear from media.

Fash na still my guy. I still believe am die. If that guy get free hand ehn, I believe say difference go dey.

FILEBE:


We had to fight tooth and nail to get meters. Even as it is .. it isn't easy to get. That is the corruption I am telling you about .


The staff that said they don't earn much from rural areas compard to cities is right. That is no brainer . I am talking about Ikedc and Ekedp. These people record any revenue they like and leave out what they want to embezzle . I am still telling you to find a truthful staff of these companies. He will tell you.

Currently Ikedp records more revenue than ekedp in books but in reality it is the other way round

GBAM! This I know for sure.

Modrov is spot on in his submissions going by the OFFICIAL FIGURES. But those figures are SERIOUSLY WRONG and evidences that prove so are right before his eyes. I just wonder how he fails to see them.

Lol

Disco

emorse:

Knowing the bolded should mean END OF STORY! I don't care what PWC, NAIRAMETRICS or any other organisation has to say about it. They derive their submissions from official figures which you(from the bolded), I and many others all know are not very accurate.

The corruption in that sector is what we are suffering from and not the "high" cost of production as they would have us believe.

Well, since you don't want to believe researched facts, but what 'my friend who is in the company says that'..ie hearsay, I think it is no use continuing this discussion

I honestly wish we could all pay N10 per kwh. Or not pay anything for power. But then the thing is improvements, upgrades, staff welfare, even the meters don't pay for themselves.

Good morning.

namqul:
Who told you it's fake the last recharge we made we nearly cry, they have increased it since August 25th

Ehn ehn! That's bad o