Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that an estimated 5.36 million electricity customers nationwide remain unmetered, a development that continues to subject millions of households and businesses to unpredictable estimated billing by electricity distribution companies (DisCos). The regulator described the situation as a persistent concern that fuels billing disputes and undermines consumer confidence in the power sector.
According to NERC’s third-quarter 2025 industry report, only 6.662 million out of 12.03 million active registered electricity customers had functional meters as of September 30, 2025, representing roughly 55.37 per cent metering coverage across the country. The remaining **5.36 million customers — nearly half of all users — are effectively being billed without direct measurement of their electricity consumption, relying instead on estimated usage figures supplied by DisCos.
The regulator noted that during the quarter under review, 228,614 new meters were installed nationwide, with the Ibadan, Aba and Abuja Distribution Companies accounting for the highest share of installations. Most of these new meters were deployed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) programme, which remains the dominant framework for expanding metering coverage. Despite this progress, however, installation rates across many regions remain modest or stagnant, and certain DisCos showed declining installation figures compared with the previous quarter.
The implications of the continuing metering gap are significant. Customers without meters are invoiced based on estimates of consumption rather than recorded usage, a practice that has repeatedly been criticised for being inaccurate, inconsistent and prone to dispute. In many cases, consumers have reported being billed for levels of electricity they did not use, leading to frustration and mistrust of both DisCos and regulatory oversight.
While NERC has sought to address billing inequities through programmes such as the MAP framework and by issuing monthly energy consumption caps for unmetered customers, structural challenges persist. These include limited infrastructure investment, disparities in performance among DisCos, and the slow pace of nationwide meter rollout.
Electricity sector observers say expanding metering coverage is crucial not only for fair billing but also for improving transparency, strengthening customer protection and enhancing revenue collection for service providers. With over five million customers still reliant on estimated billing, Nigeria’s electricity sector faces ongoing pressure to accelerate meter deployment and ensure that consumers pay for electricity they truly use.
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