Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) recorded a combined ₦342.93 billion loss in uncollected revenue in the second quarter of 2026.

An analysis of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) second-quarter 2026 report shows that the 11 DisCos received electricity valued at ₦946.57 billion between April and June but recovered only ₦603.64 billion from customers.

This means the companies collected approximately ₦63.77 for every ₦100 worth of electricity received, leaving more than a third of the value unrecovered during the period.

The shortfall occurred at two stages of the electricity distribution process.

First, the DisCos issued bills totalling ₦744.67 billion against the ₦946.57 billion value of electricity received, leaving a billing gap of ₦201.90 billion.

NERC attributed the billing shortfall to factors including energy theft, weaknesses in electricity accounting and the inability of some operators to bill electricity at the applicable weighted average tariff.

Second, out of the ₦744.67 billion billed to customers, the companies collected ₦603.64 billion, leaving another ₦141.03 billion in unpaid bills.

Together, the two gaps amounted to ₦342.93 billion in electricity value that did not translate into customer revenue within the quarter.

Despite the significant shortfall, the figures indicate some improvement in the ability of distribution companies to collect bills already issued.

Collection efficiency increased from 78.95 per cent in the first quarter to 81.06 per cent in the second quarter, while revenue collections rose marginally from ₦597.56 billion to ₦603.64 billion.

However, billing efficiency moved in the opposite direction, declining from 79.24 per cent to 78.67 per cent.

The contrasting performance suggests that while DisCos made progress in recovering payments from billed customers, they continued to struggle with capturing the full billable value of electricity delivered through their networks.

Performance also varied among operators.

Eko Electricity Distribution Company recorded the highest billing efficiency at 88.38 per cent, while Kaduna DisCo posted the lowest at 61.92 per cent.

For revenue collection, Benin DisCo led with 92.68 per cent efficiency, compared with Kano DisCo’s 47.74 per cent.

The figures point to challenges extending beyond customers’ failure to settle electricity bills.

Weak metering coverage, technical losses, inaccurate energy accounting and commercial inefficiencies continue to affect how much revenue operators can generate from available electricity.

NERC has identified accurate customer enumeration and expanded metering as important measures for improving billing accuracy and limiting revenue losses.

Although the ₦342.93 billion represents the difference between the assessed value of electricity received and customer collections, it should not be treated entirely as unpaid customer debt or an independently established financial loss.

The figures nevertheless illustrate the scale of the revenue recovery challenge facing Nigeria’s electricity distribution segment.

Unless operators improve both energy accounting and payment collection, increases in electricity supply may not translate into corresponding improvements in sector revenue.