Electricity Consumers With Prepaid Meters Hit 1.59m In Q1- NBS

By ADEBISI ADEMOLA.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that about 1,589,805 electricity consumers in Nigeria are using prepaid meters (PPM) as at first quarter of 2018 (Q1) from 1,496,556 users in 2017.

The power sector repot by bureau indicated that Distributing Company prepaid meters users between December 2017 and March 31, 2018 have increased by marginally 6.23 per cent.

The report by NBS stated that, “Total number of consumers with PPM increased by 6.23per cent to 1.59million customers in Q1 2018 from 1.50million customers in fourth quarter of 2017.”

According to NBS report, Benin Disco has the highest total customers metered with 282,868 PPM in Q1 2018 from 277,368 in 2017.

Closely followed is Abuja Disco with 260,667 PPM users in Q1 2018 from 259,879 PPM users in 2017 while Ibadan Disco has 254,261 PPM users in Q1 2018 as against 228,261 PPM users reported by NBS.

The report by NBS stated that Ikeja Disco, accounted for 137,109 PPM in Q1 2018 as against 157,797 PPM users in 2017.

Noteably, Port Harcourt Disco report 66,507 PPM users in Q1 2018 from 56,183 PPM users in 2017 as Yola Disco recorded 37,329 PPM users from 37,329 PPM users in 2017.

The report by NBS stated that, “Benin Disco has the highest percentage with 17.79per cent of the total customers metered.

“This is closely followed by Abuja Disco with 16.40 per cent and Ibadan Disco with 15.99per cent respectively while Yola Disco recorded the least percentage of the total customers metered with 2.35per cent and closely followed by Jos Disco and Kano disco with 3.42 per cent and 3.97per cent respectively.”

The report explained further that power generation statistics for Q1 2018 reflected that a total average of 92,747 MWh of energy was generated daily by power stations.

“Daily energy generation attained a peak of 105,755 MWh on the 14th of March 2018. Thermal stations generated 89,405 MWh of this while the hydro stations generated 16,350 MWh.

“However, the lowest daily energy generation, 14,357 MWh was attained on 30 of March 2018 as thermal stations generated all the 14,357 MWh while no energy was generated from hydro stations.