Electricity consumers across Nigeria paid a total of approximately ₦1.2 trillion for power consumed within the first six months of 2026, data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed.
This cumulative figure reflects the total revenues collected by the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) from January to June, according to NERC’s latest commercial performance reports.
A monthly breakdown of the collections shows fluctuations throughout the half-year period.
The DisCos recorded ₦204.75 billion in January, ₦196.68 billion in February, ₦196.13 billion in March, ₦203.61 billion in April, and ₦208.15 billion in May, before dipping to ₦191.68 billion in June.
While May marked the peak performance in revenue collection, June saw a 7.9 per cent decline, translating to a reduction of about ₦16.47 billion.
Operational data for June further highlighted underlying efficiency challenges within the sector.
NERC reported that DisCos received 315.73 billion kWh of electricity during the month, billing 240.71 billion kWh to achieve a billing efficiency of 76.24 per cent—a slight drop of 0.63 percentage points from May.
With actual revenue collections standing at ₦191.86 billion against total billings of ₦240.71 billion, the overall collection efficiency dropped by 2.61 percentage points to 79.71 per cent, leaving an uncollected gap of ₦48.85 billion for the month.
On revenue recovery, NERC noted an allowed average tariff of ₦130.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) against an actual average collection of ₦96.63/kWh, yielding a recovery efficiency of 74.24 per cent.
This efficiency metric similarly fell by 3.07 percentage points compared to May. The regulatory data also underscored deep regional performance divides among the utility providers across the country.
Performance varied sharply across individual distribution networks during the period under review.
Eko Disco led the sector in revenue recovery efficiency at 87.04 per cent, followed closely by Port Harcourt, Benin, and Ikeja.
Conversely, Kaduna, Kano, and Jos DisCos lagged at the lower end of recovery and collection efficiencies, with Benin Disco emerging as the top performer in overall collection efficiency at 94 per cent.
