Nigeria’s Power Sector Loses N200bn in First Quarter of 2025

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria’s power sector lost around N200 billion in the first quarter of 2025 due to systemic inefficiencies spanning generation, transmission, billing, and revenue collection.

The information was revealed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which outlined energy losses from poor metering, unbilled consumption, transmission collapses, and ATC&C losses across the 11 electricity distribution companies, DisCos.

The regulator said that these inefficiencies not only weakened sector liquidity but also increased the debt burden across the electricity value chain.

NERC’s data showed that only N291.62 billion was collected out of N349.55 billion billed in Q1 2025, a 16.57 per cent collection shortfall. This gap widens when compared to the total energy delivered to DisCos, as an additional 1.5TWh worth over N56 billion was not billed at all.

The data also showed that when system collapse events, non-evacuated energy, and distribution bottlenecks are added, the cumulative revenue loss balloons above N200 billion, based on average energy values.

Generation companies (GenCos) and gas suppliers remain the worst hit, as payment defaults from the Market Operator affect their ability to sustain operations. Some GenCos reported only partial payment for energy supplied during the quarter.

Despite these setbacks, NERC says it is working to enforce performance-based regulations and recover value for every unit of energy generated.

“We are applying stronger financial penalties and have begun auditing the most underperforming DisCos,” the commission stated.