Nigeria’s Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) generated a total revenue of N553.63 billion out of N744.27 billion billed to customers in the first quarter of 2025. This is according to the latest report released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). This translates to a collection efficiency of 74.39%, marking a 3.05 percentage point drop compared to Q4 2024 (77.44%).
Despite the huge billing, the DisCos recorded a combined revenue loss of N200.495 billion in Q1 2025. NERC attributed this loss to the persistent Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collection (ATC&C) losses, which stood at a weighted average of 39.61% across all DisCos.
This includes technical and commercial losses of 18.82% and collection losses of 25.61%, exceeding the 2025 Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) target of 20.54% by a significant margin.
To boost Nigeria’s power generation capacity, NERC revealed it issued 16 new licences for Captive Power Generation totalling 952.64MW, alongside permits for four new mini-grids projected to generate 1,259MW of electricity. Captive power licences allow companies to generate electricity solely for their own use, without selling to third parties.
The report also showed that the absence of cost-reflective tariffs across all DisCos forced the Federal Government of Nigeria to shoulder a subsidy burden of N536.40 billion in the first quarter alone, worsening the country’s fiscal strain.
On international and domestic remittances within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), the six international bilateral customers paid $5.80 million against invoices totalling $17.23 million, reflecting a poor remittance performance of 33.70%.
Domestic bilateral customers paid N1.85 billion out of an invoice of N2.57 billion, showing a relatively better remittance level of 72.24%. NERC also confirmed that some domestic bilateral customers settled legacy debts, with the Market Operator (MO) receiving N64.06 million towards outstanding invoices from previous quarters.
