Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies recorded a combined N2.47tn worth of electricity that was not captured in their billing between 2020 and 2025, according to an analysis of reports from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The value of the unbilled electricity more than doubled during the six-year period, rising from N281.86bn in 2020 to N622.31bn in 2025. This represents an increase of about 121 per cent.
The figures highlight the financial gap between the electricity supplied to customers and the amount for which the distribution companies were able to issue bills.
In 2020, the DisCos received electricity valued at N1.098tn but billed customers for N816.16bn, leaving N281.86bn unbilled. The gap accounted for 25.67 per cent of the total value of electricity received that year.
The amount increased to N341.77bn in 2021, when electricity received was valued at N1.459tn against N1.117tn billed. In 2022, the gap stood at N358.26bn, while it climbed further to N384.05bn in 2023.
The losses became more pronounced in 2024, with the value of unbilled electricity reaching N478.29bn. The figure rose by another N144.02bn in 2025 to hit a six-year high of N622.31bn.
Although the percentage of electricity left unbilled declined from 25.67 per cent in 2020 to 17.23 per cent in 2025, the actual naira value increased significantly because the value of electricity supplied also grew.
The unbilled amount should not, however, be interpreted entirely as electricity stolen by consumers. The gap covers several forms of losses, including electricity theft and meter bypass, inaccurate or outdated meters, inadequate customer records, poor energy accounting and losses occurring within the distribution network.
NERC identifies technical and commercial factors as the two major sources of billing losses. Technical losses occur as electricity is lost through distribution infrastructure such as wires and transformers, while commercial losses include the inability of DisCos to properly account for all electricity supplied to their customers.
Despite the growing monetary value of the losses, the DisCos recorded an improvement in the amount of physical electricity they were able to account for over the period.
Energy billing efficiency increased from 74.33 per cent in 2020 to 82.77 per cent in 2025. The DisCos received 29,819 gigawatt-hours in 2020 and billed 22,163GWh, while in 2025 they received 31,251.77GWh and billed 25,867.86GWh.
NERC’s 2025 figures showed that the total value of electricity supplied by the DisCos was N3.683tn, compared with N2.988tn billed. The regulator consequently recorded billing losses of N694.80bn for the year.
The commission attributed the 2025 losses largely to commercial challenges, including electricity theft, weak energy accounting and the inability of DisCos to bill all supplied electricity at the approved weighted average tariff.
Performance also varied considerably among the distribution companies. Eko DisCo recorded the highest billing efficiency at 95.41 per cent, followed by Ikeja at 90.77 per cent and Kano at 90.26 per cent.
Yola DisCo had the lowest performance at 60.99 per cent, while Kaduna and Benin recorded 61.56 per cent and 66.18 per cent respectively.
Electricity theft remains a major concern for the distribution companies. The Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Chijioke Okwuokenye, recently identified meter bypass, tampering and other forms of electricity theft as significant contributors to commercial and technical losses.
He warned that the losses reduce funds available for maintaining and expanding electricity infrastructure and could contribute to poor service delivery, outages and slower network upgrades.
The Jos Electricity Distribution company has also reported significant losses in Plateau State, saying illegal activities account for about 45 per cent of the electricity supplied in the state.
The billing losses are separate from losses recorded on the transmission network. The Transmission Loss Factor measures electricity lost before power reaches the distribution companies. It increased from 7.34 per cent in 2020 to 8.21 per cent in 2024 before declining slightly to 8.01 per cent in 2025.
NERC has set a seven per cent benchmark for efficient transmission losses. Where the transmission loss exceeds the approved target, the additional cost is not passed on to electricity consumers.
The figures indicate that reducing Nigeria’s electricity losses will require more than improvements to the transmission network. Better metering, accurate customer enumeration, stronger monitoring, improved energy accounting and tougher enforcement against electricity theft and meter bypass will also be necessary to narrow the gap.
