By Mary Izuaka

 

Only 61.51 per cent of electricity customers in Nigeria have been metered as of the end of June 2026, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said.

The commission disclosed this in its second-quarter 2026 report, released on Monday.

The report noted that as of the end of June, 7,743,839 out of the total 12,589,486 active registered customers in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) were metered.

“As of the end of June 2026, 7,743,839 out of the total 12,589,486 active registered customers in the NESI were metered, translating to a metering rate of 61.51 per cent,” the report said.

This leaves about 4.8 million registered customers without meters.

The report also showed a decline in meter installations during the quarter.

According to the report, 350,270 meters were installed in 2026/Q2, down 17.97 per cent from 426,985 installed in 2026/Q1.

Giving a breakdown of installations, NERC said 205,486 meters, representing 58.67 per cent of the total installations, were installed under the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) framework.

It said 123,833 meters were installed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework and 13,028 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) framework.

It added that 7,643 meters were installed under the Distribution Companies (DisCos) Financed framework, and 280 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework.

To protect unmetered customers from exploitation, the commission said it has continued to issue monthly energy caps for all feeders in each DisCo for states that have not transitioned.

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s 11 DisCos generated ₦603 billion in Q2 2026 – NERC

According to NERC, the energy cap sets the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the respective month based on gross energy received by the DisCo and consumption by metered customers on their respective feeders.

Across the quarter, the report said DisCos successfully resolved 117 out of the 146 complaints that were filed at the NERC Customer Complaint Units (NERC-CCU).

This, it said, translates to a resolution rate of 80.13 per cent.

“The number of complaints received across all DisCo-CCUs was 92,407, which represents a 0.86 per cent increase compared to the 91,617 received in 2026/Q1.

“As in previous quarters, metering, billing and service interruption were the prevalent issues of customer complaints during the quarter,” it said.