Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) collected a total of ₦553.63 billion in the first quarter of 2025, even as customers across the country continued to report poor power supply, billing issues, and persistent outages.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in its Q1 2025 report, revealed that the amount marked an increase of ₦43.79 billion over the ₦509.84 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024, representing an 8.59 per cent rise in collections.
The boost in revenue came despite unreliable electricity, system frequency instability, and inconsistent supply that plagued many consumers.
Although total generation rose slightly from 9,289.95 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) in Q4 2024 to 10,304.47GWh in Q1 2025, the improvement was minimal relative to demand. A substantial portion of generated energy was either lost in transmission or not billed to end-users.
DisCos received 8,169GWh of energy from the national grid during the quarter but only billed customers for 6,631.92GWh, indicating a drop in billing efficiency from 83.66 per cent in Q4 to 81.18 per cent in Q1.
Collection efficiency also declined to 74.39 per cent, meaning that nearly ₦191 billion in billed revenue was not recovered. Aggregate technical, commercial, and collection (ATC&C) losses surged to 39.61 per cent, well above the industry target of 20.54 per cent.
Despite these inefficiencies, distribution companies managed to increase earnings even as many consumers complained of paying more for deteriorating service. While there were no incidents of full grid collapse during the period, system disturbances were still recorded, leaving some areas without power intermittently.
“For the first time in recent quarters, Nigeria’s national electricity grid recorded zero system collapses between January and March 2025,” NERC reported, following 12 collapses recorded in 2024.
Nonetheless, the commission flagged multiple violations of technical standards, warning that the grid continues to operate outside safe frequency and voltage thresholds.
“The average lower daily frequency (49.28Hz) and average upper daily frequency (50.77Hz) exceeded the acceptable range of 49.75Hz to 50.25Hz,” NERC said.
Such deviations, it cautioned, could pose serious risks to industrial equipment and overall system stability.
Voltage performance also remained erratic. “The average lower daily system voltage was 296.56kV, while the average upper daily system voltage reached 346.82kV, both falling outside the prescribed limits of 313.50kV and 346.50kV in the grid code,” the report stated.
The commission noted that it is actively engaging the System Operator (SO) to enhance coordination and reduce risks arising from non-compliance with technical benchmarks.
“While the Transmission Company of Nigeria may view the absence of system collapse as a technical milestone, NERC stresses that deeper issues concerning grid reliability and quality remain unresolved,” the report added.
Customer reports of irregular power supply during the period reinforce that, despite higher revenues, service delivery continues to fall short of expectations.
