‎By Onu Okorie

‎Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has stated out of a cumulative upstream market invoice of ₦471.66 billion issued to the electricity distribution companies DisCos operating in the country, the operators collectively remitted ₦437.27 billion. This was part of the fourth quarter Q4 2025 report,  released yesterday in Abuja.

‎This has left an outstanding balance of ₦34.39 billion.

‎Analysis of the report indicate that it translates to a remittance performance of 92.71% in 2025/Q4 compared to the 95.21% recorded in 2025/Q3,” the report added.

‎However on a positive note, the Federal Government’s push to curb arbitrary estimated billing practices recorded high traction.

‎The report also disclosed that DisCos successfully installed a total of 323,864 meters in Q4 2025, representing a sharp 33.91% increase over the preceding quarter. A bulk of these installations were driven by the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework, pushing the country’s total metered customer base to 6,966,584—representing a national metering rate of 57.27% out of over 12 million active registered users.

‎Meanwhile, the expansion was overshadowed by a grim safety record. The Commission reported 46 electrical accidents during the period, resulting in 17 severe injuries and 26 fatalities.

‎NERC confirmed that it has launched full-scale investigations into the incidents, reiterating its commitment to enforce stricter health and safety standards across all sector participants to protect Nigerian lives.  Analysis of the report indicate that the situation worsened at the collection stage, where DisCos only recovered ₦630.93 billion out of the ₦795.06 billion billed to consumers, driving the overall collection efficiency down to 79.36%. Consecutively, the weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collection (ATC&C) loss spiked to 34.90%.

‎“At an aggregate level, DisCos cumulatively recorded billing losses of ₦174.12 billion in 2025/Q4, highlighting a declining billing efficiency of 82.03%.” according to the report.

‎The NERC report revealed that out of ₦969.19 billion worth of total energy off-take recorded by the DisCos during the quarter under review, only ₦795.06 billion was successfully billed to end-use consumers.

‎This underperformance represents a staggering 14.36 percentage point deviation from the 20.54% target set under the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO), translating to a cumulative revenue loss of ₦139.193 billion. NERC noted that except for Eko DisCo, all distribution operators failed to meet their technical targets, with Kaduna DisCo emerging as the worst performer.

‎The report also exposed widening technical vulnerabilities within the country’s transmission network.

‎During the quarter under review, the national grid frequently operated outside standard boundaries. The average lower daily frequency dropped to 49.38Hz while the upper limit hit 50.65Hz, violating the normal operating thresholds of 49.75Hz to 50.25Hz.

‎System voltages similarly fluctuated outside the mandated Grid Code parameters, swinging between a low of 297.96kV and a high of 347.03kV. These deep operational deficiencies weakened the market’s internal liquidity and financial settlement rates.