By Stella Odueme
Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) collected N603.64 billion out of N744.67 billion billed to customers in the second quarter of 2026, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reported.
The collection represented an 81.06 per cent efficiency rate, up from the 78.95 per cent recorded by the 11 DisCos in the first quarter of 2026.
NERC disclosed this in its second-quarter 2026 report released on Monday.
The commission, however, said the distribution companies continued to record significant losses, with their weighted average Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) loss standing at 36.23 per cent during the quarter.
According to the report, the loss comprised 21.33 per cent technical and commercial losses and 18.94 per cent collection losses.
NERC said the 36.23 per cent loss exceeded the 2026 Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) target of 16.92 per cent by 19.31 percentage points. It estimated the resulting revenue loss at N129.073 billion.
The regulator, however, noted that the Q2 figure represented an improvement of 1.21 percentage points over the 37.44 per cent ATC&C loss recorded in Q1.
It said none of the 11 DisCos met their respective ATC&C loss targets during the period.
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company recorded the widest gap between its actual performance and regulatory target, posting an ATC&C loss of 67.70 per cent against a target of 18.18 per cent.
NERC explained that ATC&C losses capture the combined effect of technical and commercial losses and revenue losses resulting from the inability of DisCos to collect payments from customers they had billed.
The report further revealed that the DisCos had upstream market obligations totalling N410.38 billion during the quarter.
Of the amount, N326.46 billion was owed to the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) for DRO-adjusted generation costs, while N83.92 billion was payable to the Market Operator (MO) for transmission and administrative services.
The DisCos remitted N385.44 billion against the obligations, comprising N306.62 billion to NBET and N78.82 billion to the MO.
This left an outstanding balance of N24.94 billion and amounted to a remittance performance of 93.92 per cent, slightly below the 94.08 per cent recorded in Q1.
NERC also said three international bilateral customers purchased electricity from grid-connected generation companies but remitted only $8.675 million of the $18.84 million invoiced. This represented a 46.02 per cent remittance rate.
For domestic bilateral customers, the commission said N6.913 billion was paid out of N7.552 billion invoiced, representing a remittance performance of 91.54 per cent.
The report further showed that average energy offtake by DisCos at their trading points stood at 3,197.03MWh/h during the quarter.
The figure was 112.45MWh/h, or 3.40 per cent, lower than the 3,309.48MWh/h recorded in the first quarter.
NERC said overall offtake performance stood at 94.07 per cent, compared with the available Partially Contracted Capacity of 3,398.41MWh/h.