Electricity distribution companies failed to bill customers for power worth N72.86bn in November 2025, according to commercial performance data released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The unbilled amount represents the gap between the N342.29bn worth of energy received by the DisCos and the N269.43bn actually billed to customers within the month, translating to a 21.28 per cent loss at the billing stage of the electricity value chain.
NERC’s fact sheet shows 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 N57.08bn but billed only N44.82bn, leaving N12.26bn unbilled within the period. This resulted in a billing efficiency of 78.51 per cent.
Benin DisCo recorded one of the weakest performances, billing N21.30bn out of N34.61bn received, meaning N13.31bn worth of electricity was not billed, reflecting a billing efficiency of 61.57 per cent. Eko DisCo billed N42.60bn from the N45.36bn received, limiting its unbilled energy to N2.76bn and achieving a billing efficiency of 93.92 per cent.
Enugu DisCo failed to bill N6.16bn, having received N29.53bn and billed N23.37bn, while Ibadan DisCo left N12.89bn unbilled from N42.18bn received, corresponding to a billing efficiency of 69.43 per cent.
Ikeja DisCo billed N43.58bn out of N49.12bn, leaving N5.54bn unbilled and recording an efficiency of 88.72 per cent.
Jos DisCo billed N12.63bn from N16.58bn received, resulting in N3.95bn unbilled, while Kaduna DisCo billed just N10.78bn of N17.12bn, leaving N6.34bn unbilled and a billing efficiency of 63 per cent.
Kano DisCo recorded one of the highest billing efficiencies at 93.72 per cent, billing N16.82bn from N17.94bn, with only N1.12bn unbilled.
The NERC data show that Port Harcourt DisCo billed N20.07bn of N26.12bn received, leaving N6.05bn unbilled, while Yola DisCo billed N4.13bn from N6.89bn, resulting in N2.76bn unbilled and a billing efficiency of 60.02 per cent.
The cumulative N72.86bn unbilled electricity underscores a major revenue leakage within Nigeria’s power sector, affecting DisCos’ books and the entire value chain.
Industry data indicate that the failure to bill energy supplied worsens liquidity pressures across the market, as unbilled power cannot be recovered through tariffs or government subsidies, deepening the financial strain on the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
The NERC data further show that despite receiving power valued at over N342bn, 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.
