Nigeria had 5.47 million metered electricity consumers in the second quarter of 2023, up 10.4% from the 4.96 million reported in the second quarter of 2022.
Only 3.1% more people were added from the 5.31 million registered in the previous quarter on a quarter-over-quarter basis.
Pre-paid meter prices were recently approved for an increase by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and the change took effect on September 6, 2023.
Stakeholders have criticized the higher rates on the grounds that they would deter consumers from buying meters.
A single-phase meter would now cost N81,975.16 kobo, as opposed to the former price of N58,661.69 kobo, according to the new prices as announced by the NERC.
Similar to this, the cost of a three-phase meter was raised from N109,684.36 to N143,836.1 kobo.
In its Nigeria Electricity Report for the second quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the estimated number of customers rose by six million during the quarter, up 0.72 percent from 5.96 million in the first quarter and up 2.58% from 5.85 million in the second quarter of 2022.
The research also revealed that the distribution firms’ (DisCos’) revenue during the time increased from N247.33 billion in Q1 2023 to N263.08 billion.
According to NBS, the revenue earned in the reference period increased by 39.63% year over year from the N188.41 billion recorded in Q2 2022.
In terms of supply, it was stated that there was 5,909.83 (Gwh) of electricity available in Q2 2023 as opposed to 5,851.87 (Gwh) the previous quarter. However, compared to the 5,226.97 (Gwh) reported in Q2 2022, the power supply grew by 13.06 percent on an annual basis.
The NBS also states that there were 11.47 million overall customers in Q2 2023 as opposed to 11.27 million in Q1 2023, representing a growth of 1.84 percent.
From 10.81 million recorded in Q2 2022, the number of consumers covered in Q2 2023 increased by 6.17 percent year over year.
