Electricity customers owe DisCos over N48bn from June billing — Report

Electricity consumers across Nigeria failed to pay N48.85 billion in electricity bills in June 2026, data released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed.

Commercial performance data released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) reveals that while the 11 DisCos billed their customers N240.71 billion for power consumed during the month, consumers remitted only N191.86 billion.

This unpaid balance of N48.85 billion pushed the sector’s overall collection efficiency down to 79.71 percent, marking a 2.61 percentage-point drop from the previous month.

The mounting debt highlights a sharp decline in consumer payment discipline compared to May, when DisCos successfully recovered N208.15 billion.

Customer defaults drove total revenue down by N16.29 billion, or 7.8 percent month-on-month, even as DisCos took delivery of bulk electricity worth N315.73 billion to supply the grid.

With energy billed at an average allowed tariff of N130.15 per kilowatt-hour, consumer underpayment dragged actual recoveries down to N96.63 per kilowatt-hour, reducing revenue recovery efficiency to 74.24 percent.

Customer compliance varied drastically across distribution networks. Consumers under Benin DisCo posted the highest compliance rate by settling 94 percent of their bills, closely followed by Ikeja Electric customers at 89 percent and Eko DisCo users at 88.64 percent.

Conversely, heavy consumer default crippled northern distribution networks, where Kano DisCo recovered just 42.16 percent of billed amounts, Kaduna DisCo collected 46.13 percent, and Jos DisCo realized 55.18 percent.

The persistent refusal or inability of electricity users to clear their monthly bills continues to starve the power value chain of critical liquidity, hampering DisCos’ capacity to meet upstream market obligations and threatening ongoing sector reforms.