Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) failed to recover N669.49 billion from customers in 2025, highlighting another major financial challenge confronting the country’s power sector. According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the 11 DisCos billed customers N2.988 trillion during the year but collected only N2.318 trillion, representing a collection efficiency of 77.6 per cent.
The poor revenue recovery means that for every N100 worth of electricity billed to customers, about N22.40 was not collected. NERC attributed the shortfall to customers’ reluctance to pay bills on time, dissatisfaction with electricity services and inadequate metering. The regulator warned that the continued weakness in DisCos revenue collection is putting further pressure on the financial liquidity of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), making it harder for the sector to attract investment and expand.
The financial pressure also spread to the upstream electricity market, with DisCos recording an additional N89.58 billion market shortfall in payments to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) and Market Operator (MO). NERC said the two market operators issued invoices totalling N1.72162 trillion to DisCos for energy costs and administrative services in 2025, while the distributors achieved an overall remittance performance of 94.8 per cent. The Commission stressed that timely payment is crucial to maintaining generation and transmission capacity across the electricity value chain.
Beyond revenue collection, the DisCos also struggled with wider operational losses. Their combined technical, commercial and collection (ATC&C) loss stood at 37.03 per cent, significantly above the 20.54 per cent efficient loss target under the 2025 Multi-Year Tariff Order. Eko DisCo was the only distributor to beat its target, recording a 16.13 per cent loss against a 16.88 per cent target. Kaduna DisCo recorded the highest loss at 71.88 per cent, followed by Jos at 62.15 per cent and Yola at 61.19 per cent.
The figures paint a difficult picture of Nigeria’s electricity distribution business, where challenges occur at almost every stage — from receiving and accounting for power to billing customers, collecting payments and meeting upstream obligations. NERC reported that DisCos received 31,251.77GWh of electricity in 2025 but billed for only 25,867.86GWh, while their overall billing efficiency stood at 81.14 per cent. With billions of naira left unrecovered, the regulator’s warning is clear: improving metering, customer satisfaction, billing and payment collection will be critical if Nigeria’s power sector is to achieve stronger financial stability and attract the investment needed for growth.
source: The guardian
