DisCos lose N129bn to power losses as collections hit N603bn

Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies recorded N129.07bn in cumulative revenue losses in the second quarter of 2026 as aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses rose far above their regulatory target.

The figure was contained in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Q2 2026 report, which put the weighted average ATC&C losses across the DisCos at 36.23 per cent.

The loss level was 19.31 percentage points above the 16.92 per cent target set under the 2026 Multi-Year Tariff Order, although it represented a 1.21 percentage-point improvement from the 37.44 per cent recorded in the first quarter.

NERC said all 11 DisCos failed to meet their ATC&C loss targets during the quarter, with Kaduna DisCo recording the largest gap between its actual performance and regulatory target.

“Kaduna DisCo recording the worst underperformance relative to the target (Actual – 67.70 per cent vs target – 18.18 per cent),” the commission stated.

Despite receiving less electricity from the power market, the DisCos collected N603.64bn from customers during the quarter.

Average electricity offtake at their trading points fell to 3,197.03 megawatt-hours per hour in Q2, down by 112.45MWh/h, or 3.40 per cent, from the 3,309.48MWh/h recorded in Q1.

The DisCos received 6,982.32 gigawatt-hours during the quarter but billed customers for only 5,812.31GWh, giving an energy accounting efficiency of 83.24 per cent.

The figure represented a marginal decline from the 83.48 per cent recorded in Q1.

In monetary terms, the value of electricity off-taken by the DisCos stood at N946.57bn, while energy worth N744.67bn was billed to customers.

This produced a billing efficiency of 78.67 per cent, down from 79.24 per cent in the preceding quarter.

The DisCos subsequently collected N603.64bn from the N744.67bn billed, translating to a collection efficiency of 81.06 per cent.

Although the collection efficiency improved by 2.11 percentage points from 78.95 per cent in Q1, the amount left uncollected from customer bills stood at N141.03bn.

On their market obligations, the DisCos were billed N410.38bn in Q2 for upstream electricity market services.

The amount comprised N326.46bn for 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 remitted N385.44bn, leaving an outstanding balance of N24.94bn and a market remittance performance of 93.92 per cent, slightly below the 94.08 per cent recorded in Q1.

The report also stated that the Federal Government covered about 50 per cent of total generation costs, amounting to N321.26bn, through subsidies arising from the continued freezing of end-user electricity tariffs at July 2024 rates.

Meanwhile, three international bilateral customers bought electricity from grid-connected generating companies but paid only $8.67m of the $18.84m invoiced by the market operator, representing a 46.02 per cent remittance rate.

Domestic bilateral customers paid N6.91bn out of N7.55bn invoiced, translating to a remittance rate of 91.54 per cent.