The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has stated that Nigeria’s electricity metering rate improved marginally in the first four months of 2026, rising from 57.93 per cent in January to 59.69 per cent in April.
The commission’s March and April 2026 Metering Status of Distribution Companies Factsheet, posted on NERC’s official X handle, showed that the national metering rate increased to 59.69 per cent in April from 59.13 per cent in March, as DisCos continued efforts to reduce dependence on estimated billing.
The data showed that the number of metered customers increased from 7.09 million in January to 7.44 million in April, representing an addition of more than 349,357 customers within the period.
The factsheet, showed that the number of metered electricity customers rose to 7,435,733 in April from 7,324,079 in March, representing an increase of 111,654 customers within one month.
The improvement followed the installation of 115,905 meters in March, bringing the total number of newly metered customers added across the two months to 227,559, even though more than five million active customers remained without meters as of April 2026.
Out of this figure, the distribution companies added more than 227,000 customers to the metering network in March and April, pushing the national metering rate closer to 60 per cent, according to the latest data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The NERC data also showed that Nigeria’s metering rate improved steadily during the first four months of 2026, rising from 57.93 per cent in January to 59.69 per cent in April. Distribution companies added more than 349,357 customers to the metering network during the period.
The metering rate rose from 57.93 per cent in January to 58.57 per cent in February, 59.13 per cent in March and 59.69 per cent in April 2026.
Despite the progress, the figures showed that more than five million active electricity customers remained without meters as of April 2026.
According to NERC, the total number of active customers across the 11 DisCos increased from 12,386,848 in March to 12,457,068 in April.
The latest figures indicate that while metering coverage is improving, progress remains uneven across distribution companies, with some DisCos maintaining significantly higher performance levels than others.
An analysis of the factsheet data showed that Eko Electricity Distribution Company maintained its position as the best-performing DisCo, recording a metering rate of 88.78 per cent in April.
Eko had 599,213 metered customers out of 674,929 active customers after adding 9,198 customers during the month. Ikeja Electric ranked second with a metering rate of 87.93 per cent, having metered 1,182,200 customers out of 1,344,517 active customers. The company added 5,657 newly metered customers in April.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company also maintained strong performance, with 80.08 per cent metering coverage. Abuja DisCo had 1,107,850 metered customers out of 1,383,420 active customers after installing meters for an additional 13,506 customers during the month.
The report showed mixed results among other distribution companies. Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company recorded a metering rate of 67.73 per cent, with 733,909 customers metered out of 1,083,639 active customers.
Benin DisCo achieved a metering rate of 59.14 per cent, while Ibadan DisCo recorded 53.75 per cent after adding 31,951 customers, the highest monthly installation figure among all DisCos in April. Enugu DisCo recorded a metering rate of 51.38 per cent, with 853,227 customers metered out of 1,660,690 active customers.
However, the data showed that several northern distribution companies continued to record low metering coverage. Yola Electricity Distribution Company had the lowest metering rate at 34.45 per cent, followed by Jos DisCo at 34.67 per cent and Kano DisCo at 35.40 per cent. Kaduna DisCo recorded a metering rate of 37.51 per cent.
The figures showed that while these DisCos made some progress in April, the pace remained below the national average. Yola DisCo added 7,187 customers, Kaduna DisCo added 6,522, Jos DisCo added 1,523, while Kano DisCo recorded only 172 newly metered customers during the month.
