The Nigerian Electrical energy Regulatory Fee has disclosed that roughly 5.36 million electrical energy clients throughout the nation stay unmetered, regardless of the distribution firms’ current meter installations within the third quarter of 2025.
The fee acknowledged this in its third-quarter report, which was posted on its web site on Tuesday.
Moreover, energy era on the nationwide grid decreased by 7.15 per cent within the third quarter (Q3) of 2025 in comparison with the second quarter (Q2) of the identical yr.
In its third quarter 2025 report, NERC acknowledged that Electrical energy Distribution Corporations put in 228,614 meters between July and September, representing a 0.73 per cent improve over the 226,959 meters deployed within the second quarter of the yr.
The regulator stated that as of the tip of September 2025, solely 6,661,564 out of a complete 12,030,315 energetic registered clients had been metered, leaving roughly 5,368,751 clients — or simply underneath half of the client base — nonetheless on estimated billing.
In accordance with the report, the majority of the brand new meters put in throughout the interval underneath evaluate fell underneath the Meter Asset Supplier framework, which accounted for 176,302 items, or 77.12 per cent of whole installations.
It added that meters supplied by means of vendor-financed preparations, the Distribution Sector Restoration Programme, the Meter Acquisition Fund and DisCo-financed schemes made up the steadiness, reflecting a mixture of funding channels deployed to deal with the metering deficit.
The fee defined that the continued excessive variety of unmetered clients poses dangers of overbilling and erodes client confidence within the sector.
It famous that though the newest figures present gradual progress, the present tempo of meter rollout stays inadequate to shut the hole inside an inexpensive timeframe with out sustained investments and strict adherence to permitted metering plans.
In accordance with the report, throughout the quarter underneath evaluate, 176,302 meters, representing 77.12 per cent of the whole installations, had been put in underneath the Meter Asset Supplier framework.
The report additionally confirmed that Electrical energy Distribution Corporations put in 228,614 meters within the third quarter of 2025.
Within the Third Quarter report launched on Tuesday, NERC acknowledged that the common hourly output on the grid in Q3 2025 was 4,179.15 megawatt-hours (MWh) per hour, translating to a complete era of 9,227.57 gigawatt-hours (GWh).
In accordance with the report, whole era decreased from 9,830.31 GWh recorded in Q2 to 9,227.57 GWh in Q3, representing a decline of 602.74 GWh.
“In whole, twenty (20) vegetation recorded decreases of their common hourly era throughout the quarters,” NERC stated.
“Important decreases in common hourly era had been recorded in Ihovbor_2 (-79.97MWh/h), Geregu_1 (-47.85MWh/h), Geregu_2 (-47.61MWh/h), Egbin_1 (-43.45MWh/h), Kainji_1 (-42.17MWh/h) and Sapele_2 (-26.55MWh/h) energy vegetation.
“Conversely, will increase in common hourly era had been recorded in Okpai_1 (+58.82MWh/h/h), Jebba_1 (+27.88MWh/h/h), Omoku_1 (+15.35MWh/h/h), and Dadin-Kowa_1 (+14.88MWh/h/h) energy vegetation throughout the quarters (Desk 2).
“Cumulatively, the common hourly era of the 5 grid-connected hydro energy vegetation decreased by 3.23MWh/h/h/h (-0.24%) in 2025/Q3 in comparison with 2025/Q2.
“This lower is primarily pushed by the -42.17MWh/h discount in output from Kainji_1 (-9.57%). There have been additionally negligible reductions in era at Shiroro 1 (-0.71%) and Zungeru 1 (-0.62%).
“The cumulative common hourly era from the grid-connected thermal vegetation additionally decreased by 318.68MWh/h (-10.14%) throughout the quarter, with seventeen (17) out of the twenty-three (23) thermal vegetation recording decreases of their common hourly era.
“The biggest contributors to this lower are Ihovbor_2 (-79.97MWh/h), Geregu_1 (-47.85MWh/h), Geregu_2 (-47.61MWh/h) and Egbin_1 (-43.45MWh/h) energy vegetation.”
NERC stated the important thing drivers of the decline recorded throughout the interval had been mechanical outages and gasoline provide constraints affecting a number of grid-connected energy vegetation.
In the meantime, to protect unmetered clients from arbitrary prices, NERC stated it has continued to implement the capping of estimated billing by means of month-to-month vitality caps for all feeders in every DisCo. The fee defined that these caps set the utmost vitality that could be billed to an unmetered buyer in a given month, based mostly on the gross vitality acquired by the DisCo and the precise consumption of metered clients on the identical feeder.
The regulator acknowledged that the vitality cap mechanism is designed to align the payments of unmetered clients with real looking consumption ranges and stop DisCos from exploiting the metering hole.
It added that the fee will maintain compliance monitoring and sanctions the place obligatory to make sure that operators strictly apply the permitted caps and expedite metering of all clients.
NERC additionally reported that constraints in gasoline provide to energy vegetation contributed to a 7.15 per cent drop in electrical energy era on the nationwide grid within the third quarter of 2025.
The fee famous that gasoline shortages, mixed with mechanical faults at a number of gas-fired vegetation, restricted the quantity of vitality that could possibly be generated and transmitted to the grid throughout the interval. In accordance with the regulator, the decrease output meant that much less vitality was accessible for distribution to customers, worsening provide challenges throughout many components of the nation.
It famous that gas-fired vegetation represent the spine of Nigeria’s grid, and any disruption to gasoline provide rapidly interprets into lowered era, elevated load shedding and extra frequent outages.
Regardless of the metering and era challenges, NERC acknowledged that DisCos billed a complete of N706.61 billion to electrical energy customers in Q3 2025 and efficiently collected N570.25 billion, translating to a group effectivity of 80.70%.
The fee famous that the gathering fee represented an enchancment of 4.63 share factors over the 76.07% recorded within the second quarter, pushed by tighter income assurance measures and improved billing amongst metered clients. Nevertheless, the report identified that DisCos had been nonetheless unable to gather about N136.36 billion of the quantities billed within the quarter, reflecting persevering with liquidity strain out there.
NERC maintained that additional enhancements in metering, loss discount and fee self-discipline will likely be essential to stabilising the sector and guaranteeing well timed settlement of obligations to era firms and gasoline suppliers.
The fee emphasised that closing the metering hole and addressing gasoline constraints stay essential to enhancing service high quality for electrical energy customers.
It stated {that a} mixture of accelerated meter rollout, strict enforcement of estimated billing caps, strengthened gasoline contracts, and sustained investments in era infrastructure will likely be required to reverse present deficits in provide and buyer satisfaction.
NERC reiterated its dedication to client safety, transparency and monetary sustainability within the NESI, saying that it’ll proceed to deploy regulatory instruments to compel compliance by operators.
The regulator additionally urged clients to assist ongoing reforms by honouring their fee obligations, reporting violations promptly and cooperating with metering and community improve programmes of their respective franchise areas.
