Electricity theft is more significant in Africa than in most other regions, where nearly US$2 billion is lost to non-payment of electricity bills across Africa annually and this account for more than half of electricity theft where Government organizations were among the biggest non-payers, owing US$19 million, according to a report by the Africa Progress Panel, 2017.
Part of the report tagged: Africa’s energy theft and losses states that in Nigeria, collection losses amount to 40 per cent of the power distributed, government organizations owed the distribution companies over US$390 million in unpaid bills at the end of April 2016, more than half of it owed by the army”.
“The Port Harcourt Distribution Company estimates that 60 per cent of its customers do not pay their electricity bills, including a large proportion of customers with prepaid metres”.
“The greatest portion of electricity theft is by individuals and organisations that consume large amounts of electricity and can’t afford to pay for it, while some people are unable to pay because they are too poor because most Africans live below poverty line. Non-payment of bills may be due to a lack of trust between customers and suppliers”.
The report further states that while illegal connections, metre tampering and metre by-passing are some of the ways electricity is stolen across Africa, which has a ripple effect; as revenue for financially stretched utilities is reduced thereby lowering investment in system improvements and the extension of services to those without access and this in turn increases the cost of electricity for paying consumers.
In Nigeria, however, where a large proportion of customers do not have any kind of meter, the use of bulk meters is to end. The high level of distrust with electricity billing throughout Nigeria may have contributed to this decision where the government has since resorted to restructuring the power sector and opening it up to commercial private sector players.
