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Nigeria’s power distribution companies (DisCos) recorded mixed fortunes in May 2026, as new data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) revealed rising revenue collection alongside a decline in overall billing and recovery efficiency across the sector.
According to NERC’s Commercial Performance Factsheet for May 2026, the DisCos received a total of ₦328.95bn worth of energy, representing an 8.58% increase from the previous month. However, only ₦252.87bn was billed to customers, translating to a billing efficiency of 76.87% — a drop of 6.45 percentage points month-on-month.
On the collections side, the industry posted stronger numbers. Total billings stood at ₦252.87bn, out of which ₦208.15bn was successfully collected, pushing collection efficiency up to 82.32%, an improvement of 1.66 percentage points from April.
Despite the gains in collection, the industry’s overall revenue recovery performance weakened. Against an allowed average tariff of ₦124.39 per kilowatt-hour, DisCos only recovered ₦96.16/kWh on average, resulting in a recovery efficiency of 77.31% — down 4.80 percentage points from the previous month.
Ikeja, Eko, Abuja Lead Recovery Chart
A breakdown of individual DisCo performance showed Ikeja Electric topping the recovery efficiency chart at 94.63%, followed by Eko Disco at 91.54% and Abuja Disco at 84.84%. Port Harcourt Disco also posted a strong recovery efficiency of 81.46%.
At the other end of the scale, Kaduna (39.75%), Jos (45.38%) and Kano (49.80%) recorded the weakest recovery efficiencies, despite each posting modest improvements over April’s figures.
On billing efficiency, Eko Disco led the pack at 90.66%, while Ikeja followed at 82.86% and Port Harcourt at 80.15%.
Ibadan Disco recorded the steepest decline in billing efficiency, falling by 23.24 percentage points to close the month at 65.30%, alongside Enugu Disco, which dropped 19.51 percentage points to 73.26%.
Benin Disco posted the highest jump in collection efficiency, rising 6.73 percentage points to 88.79%, while Eko followed with an 8.89-point gain to 85.37%.
NERC’s colour-coded ranking system — red for DisCos below 50% Recovery Efficiency Ratio (RRP), amber for those between 50% and 79%, and green for those at or above 80% — placed Kaduna, Jos, Kano and Enugu in the red zone for the month, underscoring the widening performance gap between the country’s best and worst-performing electricity distributors.
The Commission noted that the figures reflect month-on-month percentage changes compared to April 2026 data.
