Nigeria recorded a 10.92% boost in electricity generation in the first quarter of 2025, a rare win for a sector long defined by underperformance.
According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the surge was driven by stronger output from grid-connected thermal and hydropower plants, helping to stabilise national supply.
The total energy generated rose to 10,304.47 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in Q1 2025, up from 9,289.95 GWh in Q4 2024. Average hourly generation also increased significantly by 13.39%, reaching 4,770.59 MWh/h from 4,207.41 MWh/h.
“This growth reflects improved plant performance and better dispatch coordination across the national grid,” NERC stated in its quarterly report.
A total of 19 power plants increased their output, offering some hope for an energy-starved nation where outages remain common. But while generation grew, the system’s ability to deliver and collect payment from consumers remains broken.
DisCos lose ground as billing, collection slide
Distribution companies (DisCos), responsible for the final leg of Nigeria’s power supply chain, saw their billing efficiency dip to 81.18%, a drop from 83.66% in the previous quarter. Of the 8,169 GWh delivered to them in Q1 2025, only 6,631.92 GWh was billed to end users.
Collection efficiency also fell to 74.39%, down from 77.44% in Q4 2024. The gap between energy billed and money collected resulted in an estimated ₦200.5 billion in losses.
“All DisCos failed to meet their targets,” NERC reported, highlighting Kaduna DisCo’s particularly poor ATC&C performance—posting a 68.57% actual loss against a 21.32% target.
The Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collection (ATC&C) loss stood at 39.61%, up from 35.22% the previous quarter. This means nearly four out of every ten units of power either go unbilled, unpaid, or lost entirely.
Payments and remittances show mixed progress
Despite poor billing, remittance performance slightly improved. Out of ₦744.27 billion billed, only ₦553.63 billion was collected. However, DisCos remitted ₦414.26 billion, about 95.86%, to upstream players like the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and the Market Operator (MO).
Foreign customers were also lagging in payments. Only $5.8 million of a $17.24 million invoice was paid by six international bilateral buyers, a remittance rate of 33.7%.
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