The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed that 5.36 million electricity customers across the country are still without meters, leaving them vulnerable to estimated billing by distribution companies (DisCos).
According to NERC’s third-quarter 2025 industry report, published on its website, only 6.662 million out of the 12.030 million active registered customers as of 30 September 2025 were metered. This represents a metering coverage of 55.37 per cent nationwide.
The Commission disclosed that 228,614 end-user customers were metered during the third quarter of 2025. Ibadan, Aba and Abuja DisCos recorded the highest number of installations, accounting for 23.38 per cent, 20.81 per cent and 19.06 per cent of the total, respectively.
NERC noted that the Q3 figure showed a marginal increase of 0.73 per cent compared to the 226,959 customers metered in the second quarter of 2025.
Despite the overall increase, nine DisCos recorded a decline in meter installations during the period. Port Harcourt and Jos DisCos experienced the sharpest drops, with declines of 62.35 per cent and 61.68 per cent, respectively. In contrast, Aba (+173.45%), Abuja (+38.28%) and Ibadan (+17.72%) DisCos recorded significant growth in metering performance.
The report further showed that most meters installed in Q3 2025 were deployed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework, which accounted for 176,302 installations, or 77.12 per cent of the total. Vendor-Financed metering accounted for 44,104 installations (19.29%), while the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) recorded 7,902 meters (3.46%). Smaller contributions came from the Meter Acquisition Fund (175 meters) and DisCo-Financed framework (131 meters).
Under the MAP scheme alone, meter installations rose by 18.20 per cent from 149,150 in Q2 2025 to 176,302 in Q3 2025. Ibadan, Abuja and Benin DisCos led MAP deployments, contributing 30.31 per cent, 20.11 per cent and 15.14 per cent of the total installations, respectively.
The persistent metering gap continues to fuel complaints over estimated billing, despite ongoing regulatory efforts to improve transparency and customer protection in the electricity sector.
