Spread the word
For millions of Nigerian electricity consumers, the difference between paying for power actually consumed and receiving an arbitrary estimated bill still rests on one small device: a prepaid meter.
New figures from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) show that the country is gradually closing that gap, although more than one in every three active customers remains unmetered.
NERC’s latest metering factsheet shows that the national metering rate rose to 63.10 per cent in August 2026, from 62.37 per cent in July. The improvement lifted the number of metered customers to 8,045,565, out of 12,749,789 active electricity customers nationwide, leaving 4,704,224 consumers without meters.
The figures indicate steady, though modest, progress. Metered customers increased by 1.8 per cent from 7,903,819 in July, while the number of unmetered customers fell by 63,752 during the month.
However, the pace of new installations slowed. Distribution companies (DisCos) metered 141,746 customers in August, compared with 159,980 in July—a decline of 18,234 installations, or about 11.4 per cent.
Regional disparity
The data also exposes wide differences in metering performance across the 11 DisCos. Eko Electricity Distribution Company led with 89.6 per cent coverage, followed by Ikeja Electric at 87.7 per cent and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company at 82.6 per cent. Port Harcourt DisCo recorded 71 per cent, while Benin and Ibadan DisCos posted 64.4 per cent and 59.2 per cent respectively.
Northern DisCos continue to lag behind. Jos DisCo recorded the lowest metering rate at 37.6 per cent, followed by Yola at 39.2 per cent, Kaduna at 42.3 per cent and Kano at 42.8 per cent. The figures suggest that customers in those franchise areas remain particularly exposed to estimated billing and disputes over consumption charges.
Why it matters
Metering remains central to transparency in Nigeria’s power sector. Without meters, DisCos rely on estimates rather than actual consumption, a practice that has fuelled consumer complaints, revenue losses and weak trust between customers and electricity providers.
The improvement in coverage comes as the Federal Government continues to prioritise metering under power-sector reforms. Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe has identified distribution, metering, transparency and sub-national participation as key intervention areas following his appointment in June.
Analysts say the challenge is no longer only installing meters, but sustaining deployment at a pace that outstrips the growth in active customers. With active customer numbers rising by 77,994 between July and August, DisCos will need to accelerate installations to prevent the metering gap from widening again.
At the current coverage level, Nigeria has made progress, but nearly 4.7 million households and businesses are still waiting for the certainty that comes with paying only for the electricity they use.
Spread the word