DisCos collected N570.25bn revenue in Q3 2025 – NERC

Orisemeke Benjamin

In the third quarter of 2025, electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) collected atotal revenue ₦570.25 billion out of ₦706.61 billion billed to customers, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said in a new report.

In its NERC Third Quarter 2025 Report released Tuesday, the amount translates to a collection efficiency of 80.70%, representing an increase of 4.63pp compared to second quarter 2025 (76.07%).

The electricity regulator noted that despite collecting a N570.25 billion as revenue, DisCos remitted the sum of ₦400.48 billion in the period under review.

“In 2025/Q3, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by DisCos was ₦400.48 billion, consisting of ₦323.70 billion for DRO-adjusted generation costs from NBET4 and ₦76.77 billion for transmission and administrative services by the Market Operator (MO).

“Out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum of ₦381.29 billion (₦308.25 billion for NBET and ₦73.03 billion for MO) with an outstanding balance of ₦19.18 billion. This translates to a remittance performance of 95.21% in 2025/Q3 compared to the 95.65% recorded in 2025/Q2,” NERC said in the report.  

NERC stated that the naira value of the total energy offtake by all DisCos in Q3 2025 was ₦854.53 billion, and the total energy billed was ₦706.61 billion, which translates to a billing efficiency of 82.69%. The BE of 82.69% recorded during the quarter represents an increase of 1.08pp compared to 2025/Q2 (81.61%).

In spite of these, “DisCos cumulatively recorded billing losses of ₦147.92 billion in Q3 2025”.

The report further stated that the weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) loss across all DisCos in the quarter under review was 33.27%, comprising technical and commercial loss (17.31%) and collection loss (19.30%).

“The (ATC&C) loss of 33.27% is 12.73pp higher than the 2025 MYTO target (20.54%) and translates to a cumulative revenue loss of ₦108.753 billion across all DisCos. The ATC&C loss decreased by 4.65pp (better performance) compared to 2025/Q2 (37.92%). All the DisCos except Eko and Ikeja failed to achieve their target ATC&C during the quarter, with Kaduna DisCo recording the worst underperformance relative to the target ATC&C (Actual – 71.10% vs. target – 21.32%),” NERC added.

A total of 228,614 meters were installed in the third quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 0.73% compared to the 226,959 meters installed in 2025/Q2.

During the quarter, 176,302 meters (77.12% of the total installations) were installed under the MAP framework, 44,104 (25.01%) meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework, 7,902 (3.46%) meters were installed under the Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP), 175 (0.08%) meters were installed under the MAF framework, and 131 (0.06%) meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework.

As for quarterly generation, NREC stated that theaverage hourly generation on the grid in 2025/Q3 was 4,179.15MWh/h, which translates to a total generation of 9,227.56GWh. The average hourly generation of the grid-connected power plants decreased by 321.91MWh/h (-7.15%) from 4,501.06MWh/h in 2025/Q2.

The total electricity generated in the quarter also decreased by 602.74GWh (-6.13%)2 from 9,830.31GWh in 2025/Q2. The decrease in energy generation during the quarter can be attributed to the decrease in energy offtake by the grid-connected customers (including DisCos) compared to 2025/Q2.

On grid performance, the report noted that there was only one incidentof system disturbance on the National Grid in Q3, with the grid experiencing total collapse on 10 September 2025.

The regulator disclosed that across the quarter, DisCos only successfully resolved 519 out of the 833 complaints that were filed at the NERC-CCU; this translates to a resolution rate of 62.30%.

The number of complaints received across all DisCo-CCUs was 168,033, representing a 26.06% decrease compared to the 227,267 received in 2025/Q2. As in previous quarters, metering, billing and service interruption were the prevalent issues of customer complaints during the quarter.