Electricity distribution companies funded only 90,172 meters nationwide between 2019 and the third quarter of 2025, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Third Quarter 2025 report, highlighting their minimal contribution to closing Nigeria’s persistent metering gap.
The data underscores growing concerns among regulators and stakeholders that DisCos have largely retreated from one of their core responsibilities: metering eligible customers at no cost. While operators previously required customers to pay upfront for meters with assurances of refunds through energy credits, many consumers say those refunds never materialised, while others report paying without ever receiving meters.
Figures from the NERC report show that meters installed under the DisCo-Financed Framework accounted for only a marginal share of total installations over the six-year period, despite repeated regulatory directives mandating faster deployment.
Under the framework, 57,007 meters were installed between 2019 and 2023, with an additional 31,622 meters in 2024. Deployment fell sharply in 2025, with DisCos funding just 1,178 meters in the first quarter, 234 in the second quarter, and 131 in the third quarter.
Metering activity under the DisCo-financed model was driven almost entirely by two operators. Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company recorded a cumulative 37,156 meters, with most installations completed between 2019 and 2023. Jos Electricity Distribution Plc led overall deployments with 52,174 meters installed between 2019 and 2025, including a surge of 31,442 meters in 2024.
Other DisCos posted negligible numbers. Enugu Electricity Distribution Company installed 597 meters, all between 2019 and 2023, while Kaduna and Kano DisCos installed 149 and 96 meters respectively in 2024. Eko, Aba, Abuja, Benin, Ikeja, Port Harcourt, and Yola DisCos recorded zero installations under the DisCo-financed model as of the end of the third quarter of 2025.
In total, DisCos funded only 131 meters in Q3 2025, representing just 0.06 per cent of the 228,614 meters installed across all metering frameworks during the period.
Most deployments were driven by alternative schemes. The Meter Asset Provider framework accounted for 176,302 installations, while the Vendor-Financed framework delivered 44,104 meters. An additional 7,902 meters were installed under the World Bank-supported Distribution Sector Recovery Programme.
NERC said that as of September 2025, only 6.66 million of Nigeria’s 12.03 million active registered electricity customers had been metered, translating to a national metering rate of 55.37 per cent. The commission noted that inadequate metering continued to fuel disputes over estimated billing, undermine consumer trust, and deepen commercial losses across the power sector.
The regulator stressed that accelerated meter deployment and improved customer enumeration remain critical to strengthening revenue collection, reducing technical and commercial losses, and improving service delivery, particularly for households and small businesses that bear the brunt of estimated billing practices.
