Disco Attributes Load Rejection to Inadequate Customer Payments

Chijioke Okuwuokenye, acting managing director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), has said rising customer debts and overloaded infrastructure are behind distribution companies’ (DisCos) load rejection despite widespread blackouts.

Speaking at the fourth Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) annual workshop themed “Ending the Talk, Moving the Action,” Okuwuokenye, represented by AEDC’s chief operating officer, Olumide Jerome, highlighted a culture of non-payment for electricity as a significant challenge for the power sector.  

“There are communities where, no matter how much electricity they receive, their payment doesn’t exceed N2,000. Even if you provide them with 25 hours of power daily, they simply refuse to pay. As a private company, it’s impossible to sustain such losses and still meet market and financial obligations,” he explained.  

He added that electricity load rejection is sometimes misunderstood. “When transformers are overloaded — for instance, a transformer designed for three houses now serving 15 — frequent breakdowns occur. These require us to divert electricity to other feeders, which is often mistaken for load rejection.”

Okuwuokenye also pointed to the significant debts owed by some communities as another factor. 

He said, “Some neighbourhoods owe us up to N63 million but contribute only a fraction, like N574,000, toward clearing their debts while demanding we fix their transformers. These situations make continued power supply to such areas financially unviable.”  

He emphasised the importance of public awareness about the electricity value chain and the need for improved payment compliance to ensure the sector’s sustainability.  

Despite these challenges, Okuwuokenye noted AEDC’s efforts to improve electricity access, revealing that the company had installed 70,000 prepaid meters across its franchise area in 2024 to promote transparency and enhance revenue collection.