The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has revealed that a significant portion of the nation's electricity consumers, specifically 7,182,909, representing 53.8 percent of registered customers, remain unmetered.

This information was disclosed in the Commission's released recently third-quarter report for 2024. The report indicates that out of a total of 13,339,635 registered customers across the country, only 6,156,726—approximately 46.15 percent—have been metered.

In terms of recent progress, the report highlights that 184,507 customers were metered across all Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) during this quarter.

Notably, the Ikeja, Ibadan, and Abuja DisCos accounted for the highest number of new meter installations, contributing 25.45 percent, 21.48 percent, and 14.61 percent respectively to the total installations.

Comparatively, this quarter saw a remarkable increase in metering activity; there was a reported rise of 256.01 percent in the number of customers metered compared to the previous quarter when only 51,826 customers were metered.

While most DisCos experienced improvements in their meter installation figures, Aba, Kaduna, and Jos DisCos reported declines of 43.90 percent, 24.69 percent, and 9.31 percent respectively.

The NERC's report also sheds light on customer complaints related to metering and billing issues, which comprised a staggering 63 percent of all grievances received by power distribution companies during the third quarter of 2024.

In total, there were 328,696 complaints lodged across all DisCos during this period—a figure that marks a 14.35 percent increase from the 287,441 complaints recorded in the second quarter.

The predominant issues identified among these complaints included metering problems at 41.95 percent, billing disputes at 21.28 percent, and service interruptions at 7.05 percent.

Among the DisCos, Eko DisCo received the highest volume of complaints with a total of 64,987 cases—representing nearly one-fifth of all complaints reported—while Yola DisCo had the least with only 2,583 complaints.