Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies recorded a combined N342.93bn gap between the value of electricity they received, billed and collected from customers in the second quarter of 2026.
This was contained in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Q2 2026 report, which showed that the DisCos received electricity worth N946.57bn during the quarter but billed customers N744.67bn.
They collected N603.64bn from the amount billed, leaving N141.03bn uncollected.
The difference between the value of electricity received and the amount billed stood at N201.90bn, bringing the combined billing and collection gap to N342.93bn.
The N342.93bn is a separate gaps at different stages of the electricity revenue chain and should not be treated as a single accounting loss.
NERC said the DisCos received 6,982.32 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity during the quarter but billed customers for 5,812.31GWh.
This resulted in an energy accounting efficiency of 83.24 per cent, compared with 83.48 per cent in the first quarter.
The value of electricity billed represented 78.67 per cent of the value of energy off-taken during the quarter.
Collection efficiency, however, improved to 81.06 per cent in Q2 from 78.95 per cent in Q1.
Despite the improvement, the DisCos were unable to collect N141.03bn of the N744.67bn billed to customers.
Meanwhile, average electricity offtake by the DisCos fell by 3.40 per cent during the quarter.
Average offtake declined to 3,197.03 megawatt-hours per hour (MWh/h) from 3,309.48MWh/h in Q1, representing a reduction of 112.45MWh/h.
The DisCos recorded an overall offtake performance of 94.07 per cent against available partially contracted capacity of 3,398.41MWh/h.
The sector also recorded high distribution losses during the period.
NERC said the weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses across the 11 DisCos stood at 36.23 per cent in Q2.
The figure was 19.31 percentage points above the 16.92 per cent target set under the 2026 Multi-Year Tariff Order, although it improved from 37.44 per cent in Q1.
NERC said the losses translated into N129.07bn in cumulative revenue loss across the DisCos.
None of the 11 DisCos met their ATC&C targets during the quarter, with Kaduna DisCo recording the worst performance relative to its target.
Kaduna DisCo recorded actual losses of 67.70 per cent against a target of 18.18 per cent.
On market obligations, the DisCos had a cumulative upstream invoice of N410.38bn during the quarter.
The amount comprised N326.46bn in generation costs payable to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company and N83.92bn for transmission and administrative services provided by the market operator.
The DisCos collectively remitted N385.44bn, leaving an outstanding balance of N24.94bn.
Their market remittance performance stood at 93.92 per cent, slightly below the 94.08 per cent recorded in Q1.
The Federal Government also continued to bear part of the cost of electricity generation through subsidies.
NERC said the government assumed about N321.26bn, representing roughly 50 per cent of total generation costs, following the freezing of end-user electricity tariffs at July 2024 rates.
Meanwhile, three international bilateral customers paid $8.67m against an $18.84m invoice issued by the market operator, representing a remittance rate of 46.02 per cent.
Domestic bilateral customers paid N6.91bn out of N7.55bn invoiced, representing a remittance rate of 91.54 per cent.