Distribution Companies’ Revenue Surges to N553.6bn in Q1 2025

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Revenues collected by Nigeria’s electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) rose to N553.63 billion in the first quarter of 2025, new data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has shown.

In the Q1 report, the power sector regulator stated that this was out of a total billing of N744.27 billion issued to customers within the period under review, representing a collection efficiency of 74.39 per cent.

According to the NERC report, while  Eko Disco led the pack with at 84.79 per cent collection efficiency, Jos Disco recorded the lowest collection efficiency, with 47.19 per cent.

In the same vein, the report showed that only Kano, whose collection efficiency improved by 6.55 per cent, Abuja, with 4.81 per cent and Enugu with 0.72 per cent  recorded improvements in collection efficiency between the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

It added that the remaining eight Discos recorded declines in collection efficiency with Port Harcourt Disco’s collection efficiency reducing by 15.11 per cent, Kaduna 7.12 per cent and Eko reducing by 5.21 per cent .

“The total revenue collected in Q1 was N553.63bn out of N744.27bn billed to customers, translating to a 74.39 per cent collection efficiency, a 3.05 percentage point drop from Q4 2024,” the NERC report stated.

There was also the perennial issue of Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses, which was 39.61 per cent during the period, above the 20.54 per cent benchmark.

“The loss, made up of technical/commercial (18.82 per cent) and collection (25.61 per cent) losses, resulted in N200.495 billion in cumulative revenue loss,” the commission’s report said. 

In the same vein, during the quarter, a total of 187,194 meters were installed, a 0.41 per cent increase from Q4, 2024, bringing the national metering rate to 46.98 per cent, the NERC report said, with the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme (148,713 meters or 79.44 per cent) accounting for the bulk of installations.

However, 36,787 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), 1,074 via Disco-financed projects, and 620 from vendor-financed efforts, NERC added.

The NERC report stated that Discos resolved only 1,554 of the 4,169 complaints escalated to its Consumer Complaints Unit, a 37.27 per cent resolution rate, with the leading sources of complaints related to metering, billing, and service interruptions.