By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

ABUJA – The Federal Government incurred an electricity tariff subsidy of N358.32 billion in the first quarter of 2026 as it continued to bridge the gap between cost-reflective electricity tariffs and the rates paid by consumers, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

In its First Quarter 2026 report released on Monday, NERC said the subsidy represented a 14.44 per cent decline from the N418.79 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The Commission attributed the reduction mainly to lower electricity offtake by distribution companies (DisCos), rather than improvements in tariff recovery.

NERC explained that because electricity tariffs remain below cost-reflective levels, the Federal Government continues to subsidise the difference between the actual cost of power generation and the approved tariffs charged to consumers.

Under the current Distribution Companies’ Remittance Obligation (DRO) framework, the subsidy covers part of the generation costs payable by DisCos to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), while the Federal Ministry of Finance settles the outstanding balance.

According to the report, electricity generation companies invoiced a total of N689.72 billion for power supplied to the 11 electricity distribution companies during the quarter. However, only N331.40 billion was billed to the DisCos under the DRO arrangement, leaving the Federal Government to cover the remaining N358.32 billion.

NERC said the subsidy accounted for 51.95 per cent of the total generation invoice during the period, compared with 52.03 per cent in the preceding quarter.

“The key driver of this reduction in the Federal Government’s subsidy obligation is the decrease in energy offtake by the DisCos by 8.56 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026,” the Commission stated.

The report also showed that the 11 DisCos collected N597.56 billion out of the N756.93 billion billed to customers during the quarter, representing a collection efficiency of 78.95 per cent, slightly below the 79.36 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.

Among the distribution companies, Ikeja Electric recorded the highest collection efficiency at 90.0 per cent, followed by Eko DisCo with 89.64 per cent, Benin DisCo with 85.16 per cent, Port Harcourt DisCo with 81.22 per cent, and Abuja DisCo with 80.90 per cent.

Kaduna DisCo recorded the lowest collection efficiency at 45.81 per cent.

NERC noted that while Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt and Benin distribution companies improved their collection efficiencies compared with the previous quarter, the remaining six DisCos recorded declines, with Enugu DisCo posting the sharpest drop.