The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that electricity consumers across Nigeria submitted over 4,000 complaints to the Commission in the first quarter of 2025, with less than 40 percent of the issues fully resolved by the electricity distribution companies, known as DisCos.
This was disclosed in the official 2025 First Quarter Report published by NERC on its website in Abuja on Thursday, July 3, 2025. The commission revealed that 1,554 complaints were successfully resolved out of 4,169 complaints lodged directly at the NERC Customer Complaints Unit (NERC-CCU), giving a resolution rate of just 37.27 percent for the period under review.
According to the regulatory body, electricity customers from various parts of the country submitted a total of 254,404 complaints to DisCos through their internal Customer Complaint Units (CCUs). This figure marks a 7.72 percent drop when compared to the 275,681 complaints filed in the last quarter of 2024.
Despite the reduction in the volume of complaints, the Commission expressed concern over the low rate of resolution recorded. “The Commission notes the poor resolution rate of 37.27 percent complaints lodged at the NERC-CCU in 2025/Q1 and is taking steps to improve the speediness of complaint resolution by DisCos,” the report stated.
The report gave a breakdown of the complaints by region, showing that Ikeja Electric and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko DisCo) were responsible for the highest number of consumer complaints. Ikeja DisCo recorded 1,928 complaints, while Eko DisCo followed with 871, accounting for 46.25 percent and 20.89 percent respectively of the total complaints lodged at the NERC-CCU.
On the other hand, Kano Electricity Distribution Company received only eight complaints, representing just 0.19 percent of the national total. The report did not state whether the low figure from Kano was due to improved service delivery, lack of awareness, or underreporting.
The Commission observed that the majority of complaints were related to metering issues, billing problems, and frequent service interruptions. These issues have remained persistent across all quarters and are still the most common reasons why consumers contact the DisCos or escalate their cases to NERC.
To address unresolved issues at the DisCo level, the Commission referred many of the complaints to its Forum Offices across the country. These forums are responsible for reviewing and making final decisions on unresolved disputes that could not be settled by the DisCos themselves.
According to the Q1 2025 report, a total of 1,722 active appeal cases were handled by the forum offices during the quarter. This figure includes 1,178 new appeals received within the period and 544 pending appeals carried over from the fourth quarter of 2024.
In resolving these appeals, the various forum panels held 58 sittings and were able to close 1,276 cases, achieving a resolution rate of 74.10 percent. This is a 6.48 percentage point improvement compared to the 67.62 percent resolution rate recorded in the last quarter of 2024.
The Commission further highlighted that this resolution rate marks a 7.82 percentage point increase over the 29.45 percent resolution rate recorded by NERC-CCU in Q4 2024. This improvement at the forum level suggests better handling of escalated complaints, even though the primary CCUs of DisCos still struggle to resolve most cases on time.
As part of efforts to strengthen consumer protection and accountability in the power sector, NERC said it is implementing provisions of its Customer Protection Regulations 2023 (CPR 2023). These regulations are meant to empower consumers and ensure that electricity providers respond to customer needs and complaints quickly and fairly.
The Commission has urged DisCos to improve their internal mechanisms for resolving complaints and warned that continued failure to address issues raised by consumers could lead to regulatory sanctions.
Many electricity users across Nigeria have expressed frustration over poor customer service, estimated billing, delays in meter installations, and erratic power supply. With the rising cost of living and growing dependence on electricity, customers say it is important for power companies to live up to their responsibilities and provide value for money.
NERC has promised to keep monitoring the performance of DisCos and will continue to publish regular updates to inform the public and promote transparency in the sector.
