Electricity consumers across the county owed the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) N497.4bn debt in 2024, analysis of a quarter report produced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has shown.

The analysis showed that the DisCos issued out bills culminating into N2.19tr during the year with customers paying N1.69tr, meaning 23 per cent of the bills were not paid by the customers.

A breakdown indicated that consumers were given N368.65bn bills in the first quarter of the year, which they paid N291.62bn, but did not pay N77.03bn

In the second quarter, the bill increased to N543.64bn owing to the increase in Band A tariff from which N431.16bn was paid but N112.48bn was not paid.

The bill further increased to N626.02bn in the third quarter but N466.69bn was paid and N159.33bn was owed.

In the fourth quarter, N658.4bn was issued out of which N509.84bn was paid while N148.56 was not.(Daily Trust)