Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies recorded total revenue of N570.25 billion in the third quarter of 2025, indicating improvements in billing and collection efficiency within the power sector.
Despite the stronger revenue performance, the DisCos remitted N381.29 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator during the period, a marginal decline compared to the previous quarter.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission disclosed these figures in its Q3 2025 Electricity Industry Report released on Tuesday.
According to NERC, the DisCos’ combined upstream invoice for the quarter stood at N400.48 billion, comprising N323.70 billion in DRO-adjusted generation costs payable to NBET and N76.77 billion in transmission and administrative charges due to the MO.
After remittances, an outstanding balance of N19.18 billion remained.
The report showed that overall remittance performance for the quarter was 95.21 percent, slightly lower than the 95.65 percent achieved in the second quarter, even as total invoices declined by N16.87 billion, or 4.04 percent, from N417.35 billion.
“The remittance performance of 95.21 percent indicates that while liquidity in the market remains relatively strong, there is still a consistent backlog that needs to be cleared to sustain upstream obligations,” the commission noted.
Of the N381.29 billion remitted in the quarter, N308.25 billion was paid to NBET for generation costs, while N73.03 billion was settled to the MO for transmission services and related charges.
NERC attributed the remittance outcome to improved operational performance by the DisCos, noting that total bills issued to customers in Q3 amounted to N706.61 billion, compared with an energy off-take valued at N854.53 billion. This translated to an aggregate billing efficiency of 82.69 percent, an increase from 81.61 percent in the preceding quarter.
Collections also improved, with DisCos recovering N570.25 billion from customers during the quarter. This raised collection efficiency to 80.70 percent, compared with 76.07 percent recorded in Q2.
“A total of N570.25 billion was collected by all DisCos in 2025/ Q3 out of the N706.61 billion billed to customers,” the regulator stressed, adding that the 4.63 percentage-point increase in collection efficiency did not fully translate into higher remittance ratios.
The report further highlighted that high Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses continued to pressure market liquidity despite relatively strong remittance levels.
Weighted average ATC&C losses across the 11 DisCos stood at 33.27 percent in Q3, exceeding the 2025 Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) benchmark of 20.54 percent by 12.73 percentage points. This gap represents about N108.75 billion in unrecovered revenue that could have supported upstream payments.
“The sustained under-performance of several DisCos on ATC&C remains a key risk to full market settlement, even in quarters where headline remittance performance exceeds 95 percent,” NERC warned.
Beyond the DisCos, the commission also identified weak remittance discipline among international bilateral customers as a challenge to overall market stability.
The three international off-takers connected to the national grid paid only $7.125 million out of the $18.69 million invoiced to them in Q3 2025, reflecting a remittance rate of 38.09 percent. In contrast, domestic bilateral customers remitted N3.19 billion of the N3.64 billion billed, equivalent to 87.61 percent, during the same period.
NERC emphasised that improving remittance compliance across all customer categories, alongside continued federal subsidies—which currently cover about 59 percent of generation costs due to frozen end-user tariffs—remains critical to stabilising cash flows in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
