By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
According to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI)’s operational performance report released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for the third quarter of 2025, the total electricity generated onto the national grid by the electricity generation companies (GenCos) within the period stood at 9,227.57GWh, resulting in a 602.74GWh (-6.13%) decline from the 9,830.31GWh attained in 2025/Q2.
In the report, the Commission attributed the decrease in energy
generation during the quarter to decrease in energy offtake by the grid-connected customers (including DisCos) compared to 2025/Q2.
The operational performance parameters reported in 2025/Q3
include the available generation capacity, plant availability factor,
quarterly generation, load factor, and generation mix of the twentyeight (28)1
grid-connected power plants. Other parameters reported include the frequency, voltage, and overall stability performance of the
national grid during the quarter.
According to NERC, the average hourly generation on the grid in 2025/Q3 was 4,179.15MWh/h, resulting in the total
generation of 9,227.56GWh. Hence the average hourly generation of the
grid-connected power plants decreased by 321.91MWh/h (-7.15%) from 4,501.06MWh/h in 2025/Q2.
In terms grid Performance, “In 2025/Q3, the average lower daily (49.35Hz)
and average upper daily (50.75Hz) system frequencies were outside
the normal operating limits (49.75Hz – 50.25Hz) but remained within
the lower and higher bound stress limits (48.75Hz – 51.25Hz).
“Similarly, the average lower daily system voltage (302.13kV) and the
average upper daily system voltage (348.82kV) were outside the
range (313.50kV – 346.50kV) specified in the grid code,” the report noted.
Likewise, in the report the average energy offtake by DisCos at their trading points was 3,328.33MWh/h which
represents a decrease of 254.29MWh/h (-7.10%) compared to the
average offtake recorded in 2025/Q2 (3,582.62MWh/h).
Cumulatively, DisCos recorded an overall offtake performance of
87.39%; the available Partially Contracted Capacity (PCC) during the
quarter was 3,808.43MWh/h.
The review of commercial performance for 2025/Q3 covers energy
offtake performance, energy accounting efficiency, billing efficiency,
collection efficiency, aggregate technical, commercial, and collection
loss, and the market remittance of relevant market participants, according to the report.
On Energy Accounting Efficiency (EAE) which measures how effectively DisCos account for the energy they offtake at
their trading points, although the total energy received by all DisCos
in 2025/Q3 was 7,348.95GWh, the energy billed to end-use
customers was only 6,158.54GWh. This translates to an overall energy accounting efficiency of 83.80% and represents a 1.37pp increase
compared to 2025/Q2 (82.43%).
As regards Billing Efficiency (BE), the naira value of the total energy offtake by all DisCos in 2025/Q3 was ₦854.53 billion, and the total energy billed
was ₦706.61 billion, which translates to a billing efficiency of 82.69%.
The BE of 82.69% recorded during the quarter represents an increase
of 1.08pp compared to 2025/Q2 (81.61%). At an aggregate level,
DisCos cumulatively recorded billing losses of ₦147.92 billion in
2025/Q3.
Collection Efficiency (CE) also inched up the performance ladder as the total revenue collected by all DisCos in
2025/Q3 was ₦570.25 billion out of ₦706.61 billion billed to
customers. This translates to a collection efficiency of 80.70%,
representing an increase of 4.63pp compared to 2025/Q2 (76.07%).
The weighted average technical, commercial and collection (ATC&C) loss
across all DisCos in 2025/Q3 was
33.27%, comprising technical and commercial loss (17.31%) and
collection loss (19.30%).
The Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) loss is a
summation of – i) billing losses incurred by a DisCo due to its inability
to bill 100% of energy delivered to customers (technical and
commercial losses); ii) collection losses arising from the DisCo’s
inability to collect 100% of the bills issued to customers.
The ATC&C loss of 33.27% is 12.73pp higher than the 2025 MYTO target (20.54%) and translates to a cumulative
revenue loss of ₦108.753
billion across all DisCos. The ATC&C loss decreased by 4.65pp (better performance) compared to 2025/Q2
(37.92%). All the DisCos except Eko and Ikeja failed to achieve their
target ATC&C during the quarter, with Kaduna DisCo recording the
worst underperformance relative to the target ATC&C (Actual –
71.10% vs. target – 21.32%), according to the report.
In terms of Market remittance, in 2025/Q3, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by DisCos was ₦400.48 billion, consisting of ₦323.70 billion
for DRO-adjusted generation costs from NBET4 and ₦76.77 billion for
transmission and administrative services by the Market Operator
(MO).
Out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum
of ₦381.29 billion (₦308.25 billion for NBET and ₦73.03 billion for
MO) with an outstanding balance of ₦19.18 billion. This translates to
a decreased remittance performance of 95.21% in 2025/Q3 compared to the
95.65% recorded in 2025/Q2.
In the same period, remittance by the three (3) international bilateral customers purchasing power from the grid-connected GenCos resulted a cumulative payment of $7.125 million
against the $18.69 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3 (remittance rate – 38.09%).
“Furthermore, the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative
payment of ₦3,192.30 million against the ₦3,643.57 million invoice
issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3
(remittance rate – 87.61%),” the report noted.