Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) collected N603.64bn from customers in the second quarter of 2026, even as the quantity of electricity supplied to them through the power market decreased.
This was disclosed in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s second-quarter 2026 report, which showed that the average electricity received by DisCos at their trading points dropped to 3,197.03 megawatt-hours per hour during the period.
The Q2 figure was 112.45MWh/h, or 3.40 per cent, lower than the 3,309.48MWh/h average recorded in the first quarter. Despite the reduction, the DisCos achieved an overall offtake performance of 94.07 per cent against an available partially contracted capacity of 3,398.41MWh/h.
The report stated that the DisCos received 6,982.32 gigawatt-hours of electricity during the quarter but billed customers for only 5,812.31GWh.
It stated, “This translates to an overall energy accounting efficiency of 83.24 per cent and represents a 0.24pp decrease compared to 2026/Q1 (83.48 per cent).”
The report also put the naira value of electricity taken by the DisCos at N946.57bn, while the total value of electricity billed to customers stood at N744.67bn.
This resulted in a billing efficiency of 78.67 per cent, which was 0.57 percentage points below the 79.24 per cent recorded in Q1.
At the collection stage, the DisCos recovered N603.64bn from the N744.67bn billed to customers, resulting in a collection efficiency of 81.06 per cent.
According to the report, the figure represented a 2.11 percentage-point improvement over the 78.95 per cent recorded in the first quarter. However, the gap between the amount billed and the amount collected amounted to N141.03bn during the quarter.
The commission further reported that the weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses across the 11 DisCos stood at 36.23 per cent in Q2.
It stated, “The ATC&C loss of 36.23 per cent is 19.31pp higher than the 2026 MYTO target (16.92 per cent) and translates to a cumulative revenue loss of N129.07 billion across all DisCos.”
Despite remaining above the target, the 36.23 per cent loss represented a 1.21 percentage-point improvement compared with the 37.44 per cent recorded in Q1.
The report said none of the DisCos achieved their ATC&C targets during the quarter, with “Kaduna DisCo recording the worst underperformance relative to the target (Actual – 67.70 per cent vs target – 18.18 per cent),” it stated.
Regarding market obligations, the commission said the total upstream invoice payable by the DisCos reached N410.38bn in Q2.
The amount included N326.46bn for electricity generation costs owed to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company and N83.92bn for transmission and administrative services provided by the market operator.
Collectively, the DisCos paid N385.44bn, consisting of N306.62bn to NBET and N78.82bn to the market operator, leaving an unpaid balance of N24.94bn.
The payment represented a market remittance performance of 93.92 per cent, slightly below the 94.08 per cent recorded in Q1.
The report also stated that the Federal Government covered about 50 per cent, equivalent to N321.26bn, of total generation costs through subsidies resulting from the continued freezing of end-user electricity tariffs at the rates applicable in July 2024.
Meanwhile, three international bilateral customers that purchase electricity from grid-connected generating companies paid $8.67m out of the $18.84m invoice issued by the market operator during the quarter.
