NERC Metering Rate Rises to 63.1% but 4.7 Million Customers Remain Unmetered

Nigeria's electricity metering coverage rose to 63.10% in August 2026 as distribution companies installed 141,746 meters during the month, but about 4.7 million active customers remain without meters, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The commission's latest factsheet, released on Wednesday, showed metered customers increased from 7.90 million in July to 8.05 million in August, while the total number of active customers rose from 12.67 million to 12.75 million.

The meter gap in numbers

The figures mean 8,045,565 of 12,749,789 active customers were metered in August, up from 7,903,819 of 12,671,795 in July. That left 4,704,224 active customers unmetered at the end of the month, a national metering rate of 63.10%, up from 62.37% the previous month.

NERC defines active customers as those who vended or were billed at least once within a 12-month period. The proportion of registered customers who are actually active matters because the metering rate is calculated against this group, which is smaller than the total registered population.

Why 4.7 million customers still lack meters

Metering is a chronic problem in Nigeria's electricity sector, and it cuts both ways. Without meters, customers are placed on estimated billing, which is widely perceived as inaccurate and unfair and is a major source of disputes between consumers and distribution companies. It also deprives utilities of accurate revenue and makes it hard to reduce commercial losses.

The obstacles to closing the gap are cost and financing. Meters are expensive, and with tariffs not fully cost-reflective, distribution companies have limited cash to fund mass metering. Several government-backed interventions have aimed to accelerate installation, including programmes that allow customers to acquire meters and recover the cost gradually, but the pace has consistently lagged the scale of the deficit.

What it means for tariffs and trust

Metering is closely tied to the public's willingness to pay for electricity. When customers receive bills that bear little relation to their actual consumption, trust erodes and resistance to tariff adjustments grows. Closing the metering gap is therefore not just a technical fix; it is a precondition for the financial sustainability of the power sector and for any move towards cost-reflective tariffs.

The recent contraction in the gap, from 38.6 percentage points below full coverage a year ago to under 37, shows progress. But at the current monthly installation rate of about 140,000 meters, eliminating the remaining 4.7 million shortfall would take years, even before accounting for new customers.

What to watch

Watch whether the monthly installation rate accelerates and whether the government introduces a new financing mechanism to fund metering at scale. The more telling indicator will be the trend in the unmetered absolute number, since a rising total customer base can offset faster installations and leave the gap stubbornly wide.