The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has disclosed that a total of 148,077 electricity customers were metered across the country in May and June 2025.

According to the commission’s factsheet on the Metering Status of Distribution Companies released on Wednesday, 63,180 customers were metered in May, while 84,897 were metered in June.

This brought the total number of metered customers nationwide to 6,422,933 as of June 2025, representing a slight rise in the national metering rate from 53.78 per cent in May to 54.33 per cent in June. The NERC data showed that the country’s total active electricity customers rose marginally from 11,784,842 in May to 11,821,194 in June.

By performance, Ikeja DisCo recorded the highest metering rate at 84.65 per cent, followed by Eko at 83.33 per cent and Abuja at 73.06 per cent. At the bottom, Yola had the lowest metering rate at 28.55 per cent, with Jos and Kaduna standing at 29.51 per cent and 33.46 per cent, respectively.

The report also highlighted Aba DisCo as the most improved, with its metering rate rising from 37.88 per cent in May to 45.17 per cent in June, after installing 12,376 new meters. Benin DisCo also crossed into the 50 per cent mark, increasing from 49.95 per cent to 50.33 per cent within the same period, according to NERC’s figures.

However, despite the progress, seven of the 12 DisCos remain below the 50 per cent metering rate, leaving millions of customers unmetered and subjected to estimated billing. In response to the widespread use of estimated billing, often criticised by consumers as arbitrary, the commission maintained its policy of setting monthly energy caps for all feeders.

These caps specify the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer based on the feeder’s total energy consumption and the usage profile of metered customers. However, there were reports that many of the DisCos still overbilled their customers, attracting sanctions from the regulator.

In the commission’s various quarterly reports, metering has remained one of the dominant causes of customer dissatisfaction, along with billing issues and service interruptions.