Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) operating in Nigeria remitted a total of ₦381.29 billion to the country’s power sector in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025.
The figures were disclosed in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Q3 2025 Electricity Industry Report, released on 6 January 2026.
According to the report, the total upstream invoice payable by DisCos during the period amounted to ₦400.48 billion. This comprised ₦323.70 billion for Distribution Remittance Obligation (DRO)-adjusted generation costs payable to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), and ₦76.77 billion for transmission and administrative services provided by the Market Operator (MO).
Out of this total, DisCos remitted ₦381.29 billion, including ₦308.25 billion to NBET and ₦73.03 billion to the MO.
“This left an outstanding balance of ₦19.18 billion, translating to an overall remittance performance of 95.21% in Q3 2025. The performance, however, represented a slight decline from the 95.65% recorded in Q2 2025,” the report noted.
The report also highlighted improvements in energy accounting and billing efficiency. Total energy received by all DisCos during the quarter was 7,348.95 gigawatt-hours (GWh), while 6,158.54 GWh was billed to end-use customers, resulting in an energy accounting efficiency of 83.80%, up 1.37 percentage points from 82.43% in Q2 2025.
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In financial terms, the total value of energy offtake by DisCos was ₦854.53 billion, with ₦706.61 billion billed to customers. This translated to a billing efficiency of 82.69%, rising from 81.61% in the previous quarter, although aggregate billing losses still stood at ₦147.92 billion.
On revenue collection, NERC reported that DisCos collected ₦570.25 billion out of the ₦706.61 billion billed, resulting in a collection efficiency of 80.70%, up 4.63 percentage points from 76.07% in Q2 2025.
The report further examined payments by bilateral customers. Three international bilateral customers purchasing electricity from grid-connected Generation Companies (GenCos) made cumulative payments of $7.125 million against an invoice of $18.69 million issued by the Market Operator, reflecting a remittance rate of 38.09%.
Domestic bilateral customers performed better, remitting ₦3.19 billion of the ₦3.64 billion invoiced during the quarter, a remittance rate of 87.61%.
Overall, the Q3 2025 report indicates modest improvements in billing and collection efficiency within Nigeria’s electricity distribution sector, even as challenges around revenue losses and bilateral customer payments continue.
