The Federal Government of Nigeria has revealed that over 53% of registered electricity customers across the country remain unmetered, as detailed in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Q3 report for 2024.
As of September 30, 2024, there were 13,339,635 registered electricity customers across Nigeria’s twelve electricity distribution companies (DisCos), with 6,156,726 (46.15%) customers already metered. This leaves 7,182,909 (53.85%) still unmetered.
The NERC report also highlighted the progress in meter installations, with 184,507 new meters installed across all DisCos. Ikeja, Ibadan, and Abuja DisCos were the top performers, accounting for 25.45%, 21.48%, and 14.61% of the total installations, respectively.
Compared to Q2 2024, when only 51,826 customers were metered, Q3 saw a significant 256.01% increase in the number of metered customers. Notably, DisCos such as Eko, Ibadan, Ikeja, and Benin saw the highest improvements, with increases ranging from 389.32% to 2,120%.
To address the metering gap, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, announced in October 2024 that the government had procured 1.8 million meters, with the first batch expected to arrive by December 2024 and the final batch by mid-2025. The government plans to procure a minimum of 3 million meters over the next five years, with the support of the World Bank.
In response to complaints about obsolete meters, NERC instructed DisCos in November 2024 to replace faulty meters at no cost to customers. The presidency has also called on the Minister of Power to accelerate the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) as part of ongoing power sector reforms.
