Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies collected N603.64bn from customers in the second quarter of 2026, despite receiving less electricity from the power market during the period.
The figure was disclosed in the second-quarter 2026 report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which showed that average energy offtake by the 11 DisCos fell to 3,197.03 megawatt-hours per hour (MWh/h).
The Q2 figure represented a decline of 112.45MWh/h, or 3.40 per cent, from the 3,309.48MWh/h recorded in the first quarter.
Despite the reduction in energy received, the DisCos achieved an overall offtake performance of 94.07 per cent during the quarter, compared with available partially contracted capacity of 3,398.41MWh/h.
According to NERC, the DisCos received 6,982.32 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity during the quarter but billed customers for 5,812.31GWh.
The regulator said this amounted to an energy accounting efficiency of 83.24 per cent, representing a 0.24 percentage-point decline from the 83.48 per cent recorded in Q1.
The report put the value of electricity taken by the DisCos at N946.57bn, while the value of energy billed to customers stood at N744.67bn.
This represented a billing efficiency of 78.67 per cent, down 0.57 percentage points from the 79.24 per cent recorded in the first quarter.
At the collection stage, however, the DisCos recorded an improvement. They recovered N603.64bn out of the N744.67bn billed to customers, representing a collection efficiency of 81.06 per cent.
NERC said the collection efficiency improved by 2.11 percentage points from the 78.95 per cent recorded in Q1.
The gap between the amount billed and the amount collected stood at N141.03bn during the quarter.
DisCos miss loss targets
The regulator also reported that the weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses across the 11 DisCos stood at 36.23 per cent in Q2.
NERC said the figure was 19.31 percentage points above the 16.92 per cent target under the 2026 Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).
The losses translated into a cumulative revenue shortfall of N129.07bn across the distribution companies.
Despite remaining substantially above the regulatory target, the Q2 ATC&C loss figure represented an improvement of 1.21 percentage points from the 37.44 per cent recorded in Q1.
None of the DisCos met their ATC&C targets during the quarter.
NERC identified Kaduna DisCo as recording the largest underperformance against its target, with an actual loss of 67.70 per cent compared with a target of 18.18 per cent.
DisCos’ market obligations
The report put the cumulative upstream invoice payable by the DisCos at N410.38bn during the quarter.
The amount comprised N326.46bn in generation costs payable to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) and N83.92bn for transmission and administrative services provided by the market operator.
The DisCos collectively remitted N385.44bn, consisting of N306.62bn to NBET and N78.82bn to the market operator.
This left an outstanding balance of N24.94bn and represented a market remittance performance of 93.92 per cent, slightly below the 94.08 per cent recorded in Q1.
NERC also disclosed that the Federal Government bore about 50 per cent, equivalent to N321.26bn, of total generation costs through subsidies resulting from the continued freezing of end-user electricity tariffs at rates applicable in July 2024.
Bilateral customers
The report showed that three international bilateral customers purchasing electricity from grid-connected generating companies paid $8.67m out of an $18.84m invoice issued by the market operator.
Their remittance rate stood at 46.02 per cent during the quarter.
Domestic bilateral customers performed better, paying N6.91bn out of an N7.55bn invoice, representing a remittance rate of 91.54 per cent.
The figures highlight the continuing financial pressures within Nigeria’s electricity market, with improvements in customer collections occurring alongside persistent distribution losses, payment gaps and shortfalls against regulatory performance targets.
