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Analysis of available statistics has shown that about 37.19 million households in Nigeria lack access to grid electricity.
Figures provided by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission indicate that the number of electricity consumers across the country stands at 12.31 million customers.
The number of households in Nigeria is estimated at 49.5 million.
Assuming one electricity customer represents one household, it means that 37.19 million households lack access to grid electricity, served by 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) across the nation.
This means that 75.13 per cent of households across the country lack access to grid electricity.
The number and percentage of households connected to the national grid might actually be lesser because some customers served by the DisCos are business entities and not households only.
However, there are household electricity consumers in some communities, especially rural areas, who enjoy other forms of electricity that are not connected to the national grid.
The World Bank had reported that as of 2023, 61.2 per cent of Nigerians had one of access to electricity or the other. This leaves 38.9 per cent of the entire population without access to any form of electricity.
A factsheet obtained from NERC showed that the total number of active electricity customers increased from 12.23 million in January to 12.31 million in February.
THE WHISTLER reports that out of the 12.31 million customers, a total of 5.10 million were still on estimated billing as of February 2026.
This shows that about 41.43 per cent of active electricity customers were on estimated billing, while 58.57 per cent were metered.
Estimated billing has been one of the challenges bedevilling the Nigerian electricity industry.
This means that the customers are billed according to what they are estimated to have consumed within a month period rather than what they actually consumed.
Sometimes, this makes recovery of debts from customers difficult as electricity consumers often complain of over billing.
A number of efforts had been initiated by the distribution companies to close the metering gaps, but these have not always delivered the required results.
Even interventions by the Federal Government government have not closed the metering gaps across the service areas.
A further analysis of the NERC factsheet shows that the 11 DisCos recorded a combined 241,590 newly metered customers in the first two months of 2026.
According to the factsheet, the national metering rate rose from 57.93 per cent in January to 58.57 per cent in February.
The report shows that 119,792 customers were metered in January, while 121,798 customers received meters in February, reflecting a modest month-on-month increase in metering efforts across the country.
On aggregate, the number of metered customers rose from 7.09 million to 7.21 million between January and February.
According to NERC,
among the 11 electricity distribution companies, Eko and Ikeja DisCos maintained the strongest metering performance, recording metering rates above 87 per cent in February.
It stated that Eko DisCo improved slightly from 87.15 per cent in January to 87.62 per cent in February, while Ikeja DisCo rose from 86.69 per cent to 87.16 per cent.
The commission added that Abuja DisCo also posted a strong performance, with its metering rate climbing from 78.54 per cent in January to 79.37 per cent in February after adding 18,352 newly metered customers during the month.
During the period, Port Harcourt DisCo increased its metering rate from 65.47 per cent in January to 66.36 per cent in February.
Benin DisCo moved from 55.16 per cent to 56.75 per cent after adding more than 25,000 customers in each of the two months under review.
Also, Ibadan and Enugu DisCos remained slightly above the 50 per cent threshold. Ibadan improved from 51.99 per cent in January to 52.23 per cent in February, while Enugu recorded only a marginal increase from 51.79 per cent to 51.83 per cent after metering just 691 customers in February.
According to NERC, several DisCos based in the northern parts of the country continued to struggle with low metering penetration.
It stated that Jos DisCo increased its metering rate from 32.94 per cent in January to 34.04 per cent in February, while Kaduna DisCo improved from 34.82 per cent to 35.59 per cent.
Kano DisCo posted the weakest metering expansion during the period, adding only 161 customers in January and 149 in February, with its metering rate stagnating around 35.37 per cent.
Yola DisCo remained the least metered distribution company nationwide. It recorded a slight improvement from 30.85 per cent in January to 31.86 per cent in February.
Speaking with THE WHISTLER, the Executive Secretary of the Power and Energy Consumers Advocates of Nigeria (PECAN), Comrade Uket Obonga,
challenged the reliability of electricity access data in Nigeria.
He cited inconsistencies in customer numbers over recent years and discrepancies in NERC reports.
