Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has revealed that electricity distribution companies (Discos) installed 241,590 meters across Nigeria between January and February 2026, with Eko, Ikeja and Abuja Discos emerging as the top performers in metering penetration nationwide.

According to the latest NERC metering factsheet, the industry’s overall metering rate improved from 57.93 per cent in January to 58.57 per cent in February, reflecting gradual progress toward reducing estimated billing and improving transparency in electricity consumption.

The report showed that Nigeria’s active electricity customer base rose from 12.23 million in January to 12.31 million in February, while the number of metered customers increased from 7.09 million to 7.21 million within the same period.

Overall, the sector added 119,792 newly metered customers in January and another 121,798 in February, bringing the cumulative figure for the first two months of 2026 to 241,590.

Eko, Ikeja and Abuja Discos Lead Metering Performance

Eko Electricity Distribution Company maintained the highest metering penetration nationwide, recording 87.15 per cent in January and rising further to 87.62 per cent in February.

The Lagos-based Disco increased its metered customer base from 563,734 to 577,160 during the review period.

Closely behind was Ikeja Electric, which posted metering rates of 86.69 per cent in January and 87.16 per cent in February. Its metered customers increased from 1.14 million to 1.16 million.

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company ranked third, improving its metering penetration from 78.54 per cent to 79.37 per cent while adding more than 34,000 metered customers within the two months.

Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company also recorded moderate progress, with its metering rate increasing from 65.47 per cent in January to 66.36 per cent in February.

Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Yola Lag Behind

Despite sector-wide improvements, several Discos continued to struggle with low metering penetration.

Yola Electricity Distribution Company recorded the lowest metering rate nationwide, posting 30.85 per cent in January and 31.86 per cent in February. By the end of February, the company had only 162,959 metered customers out of more than 511,000 active customers.

Jos Electricity Distribution Company remained among the weakest performers, although its metering penetration improved slightly from 32.94 per cent to 34.04 per cent.

Similarly, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company improved marginally from 34.82 per cent to 35.59 per cent, while Kano Electricity Distribution Company recorded almost no movement, rising from 35.36 per cent to 35.37 per cent.

The figures highlighted significant disparities in metering deployment across Nigeria’s power distribution network, with some utilities nearing universal metering while others still rely heavily on estimated billing systems.

Millions Still Unmetered Nationwide

Although Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company retained the country’s largest customer base, increasing from 2.46 million active customers in January to 2.48 million in February, its metering penetration remained modest at slightly above 52 per cent.

Benin Electricity Distribution Company improved from 55.16 per cent to 56.75 per cent, while Enugu Electricity Distribution Company recorded 51.79 per cent and 51.83 per cent respectively.

Industry stakeholders continue to identify widespread metering as critical to improving revenue collection, reducing commercial losses and restoring consumer confidence in Nigeria’s power sector.

Estimated billing remains one of the most contentious issues between consumers and electricity distribution companies, with many Nigerians accusing Discos of arbitrary billing practices and inadequate service delivery.

Although the federal government has introduced interventions such as the National Mass Metering Programme and the Meter Asset Provider regulations to accelerate deployment, more than five million electricity customers remained unmetered nationwide as of February 2026.

NERC’s latest data further indicated that metering penetration improved by only about 1.7 percentage points between February 2025 and February 2026, underlining the scale of investment still required to achieve universal metering across Nigeria.