Commercial performance data released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed that electricity distribution companies failed to bill customers for power worth N72.86 billion in November 2025.
The unbilled amount represents the gap between the N342.29 billion worth of energy received by the Distribution Companies (DisCos) and the N269.43 billion actually billed to customers within the month, translating to a 21.28 per cent loss at the billing stage of the electricity value chain.
The NERC fact sheet showed that the industry-wide billing efficiency stood at 78.72 per cent, indicating that more than one-fifth of electricity supplied into distribution networks was never converted into customer bills.
A breakdown of the figures shows wide disparities among the DisCos, with losses driven largely by weak metering coverage, energy theft and technical losses on distribution networks.
Abuja Electricity Distribution Company received energy valued at N57.08 billion but billed only N44.82 billion, leaving N12.26 billion unbilled within the period. This resulted in a billing efficiency of 78.51 per cent.
Benin DisCo recorded one of the weakest performances, billing N21.30 billion out of N34.61 billion received, meaning N13.31 billion worth of electricity was not billed, reflecting a billing efficiency of 61.57 per cent. Eko DisCo billed N42.60 billion from the N45.36 billion received, limiting its unbilled energy to N2.76 billion and achieving a billing efficiency of 93.92 per cent.
Enugu DisCo failed to bill N6.16 billion, having received N29.53 billion and billed N23.37 billion, while Ibadan DisCo left N12.89 billion unbilled from N42.18 billion received, corresponding to a billing efficiency of 69.43 per cent.
Ikeja DisCo billed N43.58 billion out of N49.12 billion, leaving N5.54 billion unbilled and recording an efficiency of 88.72 per cent.
Jos DisCo billed N12.63 billion from N16.58 billion received, resulting in N3.95 billion unbilled, while Kaduna DisCo billed just N10.78 billion of N17.12 billion, leaving N6.34 billion unbilled and a billing efficiency of 63 per cent.
Kano DisCo recorded one of the highest billing efficiencies at 93.72 per cent, billing N16.82 billion from N17.94 billion, with only N1.12 billion unbilled.
The NERC data show that Port Harcourt DisCo billed N20.07 billion of N26.12 billion received, leaving N6.05 billion unbilled, while Yola DisCo billed N4.13 billion from N6.89 billion, resulting in N2.76 billion unbilled and a billing efficiency of 60.02 per cent.
The cumulative N72.86 billion unbilled electricity underscores a major revenue leakage within Nigeria’s power sector, affecting DisCos’ books and the entire value chain.
The NERC data further show that despite receiving power valued at over N342 billion, the inability of DisCos to fully bill customers continues to undermine market revenues, with implications for power generation payments, tariff sustainability and the Federal Government’s mounting subsidy burden.
