Nigeria's Government Boosts Meter Installations in 2026

In the first half of 2026, the Federal Government installed 707,765 electricity meters across Nigeria, marking a 71% increase from the 412,792 meters installed in the same period in 2025. The installations included 357,495 meters in the first quarter and 350,270 in the second quarter, compared to 187,161 and 225,631 meters in the corresponding quarters of 2025.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) reported that the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) was responsible for the largest share of these installations. Despite the increase, over 4.8 million active registered customers remained unmetered as of June 2026.

NERC has implemented monthly energy caps to protect unmetered customers from excessive billing, based on the energy received by each Distribution Company (DisCo) and consumption recorded by metered customers. The metering initiative is part of a broader effort supported by a $500 million World Bank-financed programme aimed at improving metering and billing transparency in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).