Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies metered an additional 2.19 million customers between June 2023 and June 2026, but four northern distribution companies continued to record low metering rates, with many consumers still relying on estimated billing.
The national metering rate rose from 44.16 per cent in June 2023 to 61.51 per cent in June 2026, according to figures contained in the second-quarter reports of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for the two years.
The number of metered customers increased from 5,546,483 out of 12,561,049 registered customers in June 2023 to 7,743,839 out of 12,589,486 customers in June 2026.
This represents a net addition of 2,197,356 metered customers over the three-year period, while the number of customers without meters fell from 7,014,566 to 4,845,647.
Despite the improvement nationally, Jos, Yola, Kaduna and Kano electricity distribution companies remained significantly behind their counterparts in other parts of the country, with their metering rates all below 41 per cent as of June 2026.
Jos Electricity Distribution Company recorded a metering rate of 35.42 per cent in June 2026, up slightly from 32.90 per cent three years earlier. Yola DisCo’s rate rose from 21.79 per cent to 36.20 per cent, while Kaduna improved from 23.56 per cent to 39.83 per cent.
Kano Electricity Distribution Company performed a bit better, increasing its metering rate from 24.24 per cent to 40.67 per cent over the period, leaving all four northern operators below the national average of 61.51 per cent.
In contrast, Eko Electricity Distribution Company recorded the strongest improvement among the distribution companies, raising its metering rate from 59.02 per cent in June 2023 to 88.70 per cent in June 2026.
Port Harcourt DisCo also recorded significant progress, with its rate rising from 39.78 per cent to 68.66 per cent. Abuja Electricity Distribution Company increased its metering rate from 59.78 per cent to 81.38 per cent, while Ikeja DisCo moved from 70.39 per cent to 87.91 per cent.
Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company recorded the largest increase in the number of metered customers, adding 481,289 over the three years. Ikeja and Abuja followed, with increases of 334,972 and 333,015 metered customers, respectively.
The figures highlight the uneven pace of metering across the country, despite the overall increase in the number of electricity customers with meters.
During Q2 of 2026 alone, 350,270 customers received meters across the 11 distribution companies. IBEDC accounted for the largest share, installing 102,090 meters, or 29.15 per cent of the total.
This represented a significant increase from the corresponding quarter of 2023, when 178,864 customers were metered across the country.
The continued shortfall in metering means that 4,845,647 electricity customers were still without meters as of June 2026, leaving them exposed to estimated billing. This has since dropped to 4,704,224 according to the August report.
To address concerns over estimated billing, NERC said it had continued to issue monthly energy caps for feeders that have not transitioned to full metering. The caps restrict the amount of electricity that can be billed to unmetered customers and are intended to protect them from arbitrary estimated bills.
In Q2 of 2023, the 11 DisCos collected N267.86bn out of N354.61bn billed to customers, representing a collection efficiency of 75.54 per cent.