A homeowner has cried out after going two straight months without electricity supply, even though the distribution company kept sending him bills as if power had never stopped flowing to his house.
According to his account, the wire connecting his home to the network was physically disconnected and taken away to the local NEPA (an older name for Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies, still widely used by many Nigerians even though the National Electric Power Authority was broken up and privatised years ago) office. Despite this, bills for both months arrived at his doorstep as though nothing had changed.
His frustration mirrors a complaint heard across many Nigerian households and reflects a much bigger, well-documented problem in the country’s power sector.
This Is Not an Isolated Case — It Is a National Pattern
This homeowner’s experience is far from unique. Nigerian electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have faced sustained criticism this year over the gap between what they bill and what customers actually receive. Regulatory data made public in 2026 showed that DisCos generated a combined N801.16 billion in revenue from Nigerian electricity consumers between January and April 2026, despite months of widespread blackouts, unstable power supply and mounting complaints over poor service delivery.
Even more strikingly, the 11 electricity distribution firms billed consumers N1.01 trillion during the four-month period but recovered N801.16 billion, leaving an outstanding N207.77 billion in unpaid electricity bills. The gap shows that non-payment, often driven by disputes exactly like this one, is now a major feature of the sector’s finances, not a rare exception.
Part of the problem traces back to how many customers are billed in the first place. As of early 2026, Nigerian DisCos installed 241,590 electricity meters across the country in the first two months of the year, yet millions remain unmetered, fueling estimated billing complaints. Regulatory figures showed the national metering rate rose only marginally from 57.93 per cent in January to 58.57 per cent in February, meaning millions of electricity consumers are still without meters and are therefore billed on guesswork rather than actual usage.
Why Does This Keep Happening? (Causes Behind the Billing Without Supply Problem)
Several factors combine to produce cases like this one:
Estimated billing without proper checks. Where a customer has no prepaid meter, DisCos are permitted to estimate consumption. But complaints reviewed this year describe estimates that bear little relationship to actual usage, and even less to whether the customer had any supply at all. Analysts note that unmetered customers have long reported bills as much as 500 per cent higher than their actual usage.
Poor coordination between technical and billing departments. When a fault team disconnects a line or removes a wire for repair or investigation, that information does not always reach the billing unit in time, so automated or routine billing continues regardless of whether the customer is actually receiving power.
Financial incentive to keep billing. Some industry observers have gone further, alleging that certain DisCos benefit financially from delays in fixing metering and connection problems. Reporting this year noted credible allegations that some DisCos deliberately frustrate free meter installations because estimated billing generates inflated revenues without corresponding service obligations.
Slow pace of metering rollout. Even where the government has tried to close the gap, the process has been sluggish. Stakeholders have repeatedly linked the slow pace of metering to financing constraints, foreign exchange pressures, supply chain challenges, and the high cost of meter procurement.
The Effects on Ordinary Households
For a family already dealing with fuel costs for generators or the discomfort of a home without power, an inflated or wrongful bill adds financial pressure on top of physical hardship. Unresolved billing disputes can also lead to further disconnection threats, damage to a household’s credit standing with the DisCo, and, in some documented cases, forced payment simply to avoid harassment or service refusal when supply eventually resumes.
More broadly, disputes like this erode public trust in the metering and billing system, discourage some households from reporting faults promptly, and feed the wider non-payment culture that DisCos themselves later cite as a reason for poor service.
What Can Be Done? (Possible Solutions for Affected Customers)
Nigeria’s power regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has set out steps customers can take when a dispute like this arises.
Contact the DisCo formally first. NERC’s guidance is clear that DisCos remain the primary point of contact for all electricity-related complaints and are mandated to address technical and commercial concerns within stipulated timelines. Customers should always insist on a written complaint reference number.
Keep every record. Customers are advised to keep records of all communications with the DisCo to support any later escalation.
Escalate to NERC if unresolved. Under NERC’s consumer rights framework, all customers have a right to file complaints and to the prompt investigation of complaints, and if a complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, customers have a right to escalate the issue to the NERC Forum Office covering their DisCo’s area.
Demand a refund where overbilled. NERC’s stated consumer rights explicitly include a right to refund when a customer has been over billed, which should apply squarely to a case where no supply was received at all.
On the policy side, momentum is building around a broader fix. Under the 2026 metering push, regulators have approved funding aimed at extending free prepaid meters to more households, with penalties for DisCos that fail to stay within billing caps, and a mechanism for revenue to be clawed back and credited to affected consumers where a DisCo overcharges.
Our Thoughts
What strikes me most about this case is how ordinary it has become. A man loses his power supply, watches his own connecting wire carried away to the DisCo’s own office, and still gets billed as though the lights never went out. That is not a technical glitch; it is a sign of how disconnected the billing side of these companies has become from the reality on the ground.
Nigeria’s power sector has no shortage of roadmaps, funding announcements, and regulatory guidelines. What it lacks, in cases like this, is simple accountability at the point of contact — someone within the DisCo whose job it is to check, before a bill goes out, whether the customer actually had power. Until that basic link is fixed, more households will keep paying for darkness, and more trust in the system will keep draining away.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
