4.7M CUSTOMERS STILL ON ESTIMATED BILLING! METERING GAP PERSISTS AS COVERAGE HITS 63.1%

4.7M CUSTOMERS STILL ON ESTIMATED BILLING! METERING GAP PERSISTS AS COVERAGE HITS 63.1% – NERC

GREATRIBUNETVNEWS– “ABOUT 4.7 million active electricity customers in Nigeria remain without meters, despite an increase in the national metering rate to 63.10 per cent in August, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed.”

DisCos Metering Slows Despite Small Gain!

THE NUMBERS:
“The commission’s July and August 2026 metering factsheet showed that 8,045,565 customers had been metered out of 12,749,789 active customers recorded by the country’s 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) as of August.”

“This leaves 4,704,224 customers without meters, highlighting the persistent gap in efforts to ensure that electricity consumers are billed based on their actual consumption.”

THE MONTHLY PROGRESS:
“The latest figures represent an improvement from July, when 7,903,819 customers were metered out of 12,671,795 active customers, translating to a metering rate of 62.37 per cent.”

THE SLOWDOWN:
“According to the factsheet, the DisCos metered 141,746 customers in August, compared with 159,980 customers in July, indicating a decline of 18,234 in monthly meter deployment.”

Despite the increase in the total number of metered customers, the pace of installations slowed during the period under review.

A breakdown of the figures showed that Eko Electricity Distribution Company recorded the highest metering rate in August at 89.64 per cent, followed by Ikeja Electric at 87.74 per cent and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company at 82.62 per cent.

Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company recorded a metering rate of 71.00 per cent, while Benin DisCo achieved 64.41 per cent.

At the lower end of the table, Jos DisCo recorded the lowest metering rate at 37.60 per cent, followed by Yola at 39.15 per cent, Kaduna at 42.32 per cent and Kano at 42.84 per cent.

Enugu DisCo recorded a metering rate of 52.40 per cent, while Ibadan DisCo stood at 59.23 per cent.

The figures also showed that Ibadan DisCo had the highest number of active customers in August, with 2,574,455, followed by Abuja with 1,426,949 and Ikeja with 1,350,940.

In terms of newly metered customers, Benin DisCo led in August with 21,783 installations, followed by Abuja with 17,331 and Port Harcourt with 24,556.

However, Port Harcourt’s 24,556 installations placed it ahead of Benin and Abuja in the monthly deployment figures.

The latest data showed that while national metering coverage continued to improve, significant disparities remained among the distribution companies, with the metering rates of the four lowest-performing DisCos below 43 per cent.

Metering is a key component of electricity market reforms, as it enables consumers to monitor their electricity consumption and helps reduce disputes associated with estimated billing.

The latest figures underscore the need for distribution companies to accelerate meter deployment, particularly in areas where a large proportion of active customers remain unmetered.