Nigerians spent a total of N16.5 trillion to buy diesel, petrol and generators to get electricity in 2023 alone, the Federal Government announced on Tuesday, July 2.

It was also revealed that the formal power sector, including electricity generation, transmission, and distribution companies, made a total revenue of N1tn last year amid the over N16tn spent by power consumers in the informal sector.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who announced this at the ongoing 2024 Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, however, noted that electricity consumers in the Band A category now get up to 24 hours of power supply.

He said, "If you know how much our people spend buying diesel, petrol, generators, and servicing them in a year; the last study we had in 2023, a total of N16.5tn was spent on this in self (power) generation. Even a number of the industries are off the grid. They now have their captive power between their environments with gas-powered generators.

"So spendings in this sector out of the grid is close to N20tn. And let me blow your mind, the revenue for the entire industry, the grid, I mean the formal power sector was just N1tn for 2023 that goes to the generation companies, transmission company and the distribution companies. Just N1tn formal revenue. But the informal spendings on generators, diesel, petrol, was close to N20tn.

"Even if it is just a quarter of that is put in the official power sector, we are talking about incremental revenue of N5tn that will bring the sector’s revenue to N6tn, sincerely we are going to have something close to uninterrupted 24/7 power supply in Nigeria."

The minister said the government was currently working hard to earn the trust of power consumers, stressing that it would be better to spend on electricity provided by the national grid because it is cheaper than spending on diesel or petrol-powered generators.

He continued: "That is what we are working on to ensure that that trust is back, that that confidence is back. And all the manufacturing companies that are doing self-generation can cut it off and reconnect to the national grid because it is the cheapest source.

"As at the last study, Band A customers are enjoying uninterrupted supply and pay N206. For the companies that have their captive power using gas, they pay about N290/kWh.

"For those that are using petrol generators, it is about N450 per kilowatt-hour. And for those using diesel to power their generators, it is upward of N900. So it is still the cheapest, most efficient and the least cost for our productive activities."