Nigeria's electricity distribution companies, known as DisCos, collected a total of N603.64bn from customers in the second quarter of 2026. This was revealed in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission's second-quarter 2026 report. The report showed that the DisCos received a total of 6,982.32 gigawatt-hours of electricity during the quarter but billed customers for only 5,812.31GWh. The DisCos' collection efficiency stood at 81.06 per cent.
The average energy offtake by the DisCos at their trading points fell to 3,197.03 megawatt-hours per hour in the quarter. This represented a 112.45MWh/h, or 3.40 per cent, decline from the 3,309.48MWh/h average recorded in the first quarter. Despite the decline in offtake, the DisCos recorded an overall offtake performance of 94.07 per cent during the quarter, against available partially contracted capacity of 3,398.41MWh/h.
The report also revealed that the naira value of electricity off-taken by the DisCos stood at N946.57bn, while the total value of energy billed to customers was N744.67bn. This translated to a billing efficiency of 78.67 per cent, representing a decline of 0.57 percentage points from the 79.24 per cent recorded in the first quarter.
At the collection stage, the DisCos recovered N603.64bn from the N744.67bn billed to customers. The difference between the amount billed and the amount collected stood at N141.03bn during the quarter. The weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection losses across the 11 DisCos stood at 36.23 per cent in Q2.
The 36.23 per cent loss represented a 1.21 percentage-point improvement from the 37.44 per cent recorded in Q1. However, the loss translates to a cumulative revenue loss of N129.07 billion across all DisCos. All the DisCos failed to meet their ATC&C targets during the quarter, with Kaduna DisCo recording the worst underperformance relative to the target.
On market obligations, the report said the cumulative upstream invoice payable by the DisCos stood at N410.38bn in Q2. The DisCos collectively remitted N385.44bn, leaving an outstanding balance of N24.94bn. This represented a market remittance performance of 93.92 per cent, slightly lower than the 94.08 per cent recorded in Q1.
The Federal Government had taken responsibility for about 50 per cent, or N321.26bn, of the total generation costs through subsidies arising from the freezing of end-use customer tariffs at the rates applicable in July 2024. Three international bilateral customers purchasing electricity from grid-connected generating companies paid $8.67m against an $18.84m invoice issued by the market operator during the quarter.
Key points
- The DisCos collected N603.64bn from customers in Q2 2026 despite a decline in power offtake.
- The average energy offtake by the DisCos fell to 3,197.03 megawatt-hours per hour in the quarter.
- The DisCos' collection efficiency stood at 81.06 per cent in Q2 2026.
