The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, criticised the electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) in Nigeria.

He said they have let down Nigerians and are the weakest part of the power supply chain.

Adelabu pointed out that many Discos, especially in northern Nigeria, paid only 30% of the expected money last year.

Speaking at a meeting in Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, he said the government is losing about N200 billion every month because of power subsidies.

Keeping the current electricity prices is not sustainable and is putting pressure on public funds.

He also talked about the lack of investment in the power distribution network and ongoing problems that harm progress in the sector.

According to him, these issues have caused poor electricity service across the country despite efforts to improve the sector.

Adelabu highlighted that DisCos have old equipment, suffer from widespread electricity theft, invest little in infrastructure, rely too much on government subsidies, and leave many people without power.

He said, “We need to get tough with the Discos, as they can easily frustrate all the gains we have made. They have disappointed us in performance expectations.

Whatever we do in generation does not mean anything to consumers if it is frustrated at the distribution points.”

When the power sector was restructured in 2013, Discos were meant to work with technical partners, often foreign companies.

But Adelabu said these partnerships only lasted a few months, and the foreign companies left once Discos took control.

Despite recent tariff increases that improved market cash flow and raised sector revenue from N1 trillion in 2023 to N1.7 trillion in 2024, the distribution part of the sector is still the weakest.

He added that the lack of electricity meters causes revenue loss and makes consumers lose trust.

To fix this, the government started a N700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative and a World Bank program aiming to provide 4.3 million meters by 2025.

So far, 75,000 meters were installed in April 2024, and 200,000 more were expected in May.

Finally, the minister said the government plans to restructure the poorly performing Discos and enforce strict rules to improve their performance.