Abuja, Eight Other Discos Face Sanctions Over Power Shortfall

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said it has commenced sanctions against nine electricity distribution companies (DisCos) that failed to meet the minimum power offtake requirements stipulated in its Performance Monitoring Framework.

THE WHISTLER recalls that under the Orders on Performance Monitoring Framework for DisCos (NERC/2024/086–096), issued on July 5, 2024, DisCos are mandated to off-take at least 95 per cent of their available Performance Contract Capacity (PCC) or face regulatory penalties.

However, NERC in its Q3 2025 report stated that only Benin Electricity Distribution Company, which recorded 99.20 per cent, and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (95.65 per cent) met the requirement during the review period.

The Commission disclosed that the remaining DisCos, Abuja, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Yola, failed to meet the target.

It added that Kaduna DisCo recorded the lowest offtake performance at 75.23 per cent during the period.

To this end, NERC said it has begun implementing appropriate sanctions against the defaulting operators in line with the regulatory framework.

However, despite the compliance gaps, the report noted a modest improvement in overall sector performance during the review period.

According to the report, the total energy offtake by all DisCos in Q3 2025 stood at 7,348.95 gigawatt-hours (GWh), while the total energy billed was 6,158.54 GWh, translating to an aggregate energy accounting efficiency (EAE) of 83.80 per cent.

This represents an improvement over Q2 2025, when total energy received and billed were 7,824.43GWh and 6,449.82GWh respectively, resulting in an efficiency level of 82.43 per cent.

According to NERC, the sector recorded a 1.37 percentage point increase in energy accounting efficiency on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

It stated that at the individual DisCo level, Ibadan DisCo posted the highest energy accounting efficiency in Q3 at 89.87 per cent, while Enugu DisCo recorded the lowest at 71.40 per cent.

Also, during the period, seven DisCos improved their efficiencies compared to the previous quarter, with Yola DisCo achieving the most significant gain of 8.94 percentage points.

However, Benin, Enugu, Jos and Kano DisCos recorded declines in performance, with Benin DisCo experiencing the sharpest drop of 4.31 percentage points.