Nigeria’s drive toward a fully metered electricity market is gaining fresh momentum as the national metering rate climbed to 57.27% at the end of December 2025, a sharp incease from 56.54% recorded in November, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) report has revealed.
BusinessDay’s analysis of the metering status report for Distribution Companies showed that a total of 88,592 customers were metered in November and 109,556 customers were metered in December. With this, the total number of metered customers rose to 6,966,584, out of 12,163,412 active electricity customers.
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The report also indicated that of the total customers metered, Ikeja DisCo recorded the highest metering rate at 86.40 percent, with 1,130,213 customers metered out of its 1,308,042 active customers.
Eko DisCo also recorded a high metering rate at 85.87%, with 550,764 customers metered out of its 641,411 active customers. The report also showed that Abuja DisCo recorded 77.81% metering rate with 1,044,014 metered customers out of 1,341,807 active customers.
However, the Federal Government recently intensified efforts to cover up the metering gap through the installation of free electricity meter installation across the country. The meters being deployed under the the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP).
Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), speaking at a joint media briefing on DISREP with the managing directors of Nigeria’s 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in Abuja recently, said that DISREP is financed through a $500 million World Bank facility.
Gbeleyi explained that the concessional nature of the funding, which comes at single-digit interest rates, makes it more sustainable than commercial borrowing and supports long-term stability in the power sector.
Under the DISREP IPF, 3.2 million smart meters are being procured and installed nationwide over four years through competitive international and local bidding. According to him, close to 700,000 meters have already been delivered, while about 200,000 have been installed across different DisCos.
The DG said, “With DISREP and other Federal Government interventions, the journey to power sector reliability is underway. DISREP is not just a short-term intervention, but part of a broader and coordinated plan of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, towards building a financially viable and service-oriented electricity market.
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“Nigerians deserve a power sector that works, one that delivers reliable electricity, protects consumers, ensures value for money, and supports economic growth. Together, we shall achieve that! The supply and installation of these meters for customers is free.”
