The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says the Federal Government incurred N679.58 billion in electricity subsidy obligations during the first half (H1) of 2026.
The figure represents a 35.27 per cent decrease from the N1.05 trillion recorded during the corresponding period in 2025.
NERC disclosed the figures in its second-quarter (Q2) 2026 report.
According to the report, the government’s subsidy obligation stood at N321.26 billion in Q2, compared with N358.32 billion in the first quarter (Q1).
“It is important to note that due to the absence of cost reflective tariffs across all DisCos, the Government incurred a subsidy obligation of N321.26 billion; this represents a ₦37.06 billion (-10.34%) reduction in FGN subsidy compared to 2026/Q1 (₦358.32 billion),” the statement reads.
NERC said the Q2 subsidy accounted for 49.60 per cent of the total invoices issued by electricity generation companies (GenCos), compared with 51.95 per cent in Q1.
The commission attributed the reduction mainly to a 3.40 per cent decline in energy offtake by electricity distribution companies (DisCos) between Q1 and Q2.
“In 2026/Q2, the DRO-adjusted invoice from NBET to the DisCos was ₦326.46 billion, while the total remittance made was ₦306.62 billion, which translates to 93.92% remittance performance,” NERC said.
“Comparatively, in 2026/Q1, the DRO-adjusted invoice from NBET to DisCos was ₦331.40 billion, and the total remittance was ₦312.48 billion, which translated to 94.29% remittance performance.”
Seven DisCos achieve 100% remittance to NBET
The report showed that seven distribution companies — Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Port Harcourt and Yola — recorded 100 per cent remittance performance to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) company in Q2.
“Kano (66.51%), Jos (62.39%) and Kaduna (50.10%) DisCos achieved less than 70% remittance rate for the quarter,” NERC said.
“A quarter-on-quarter analysis showed that Yola ( 16.45pp), Ibadan ( 6.38pp), Kaduna (5.52pp), and Enugu ( 0.68pp) DisCos recorded improvements in remittance performance to NBET while Kano (-18.66pp), Jos (-4.71pp), and Abuja (-1.02pp) DisCos recorded decreases in remittance performance in 2026/Q2 compared to 2026/Q1.”
The commission also reported that the market operator issued invoices to DisCos for energy transmission and administrative services during the quarter.
“The Market Operator issues invoices to DisCos for energy transmission and administrative services. In 2026/Q2, DisCos made a total remittance of ₦78.82 billion against the cumulative invoice of ₦83.92 billion issued by the MO,” NERC said.
NERC said the payments amounted to 93.92 per cent of the total amount invoiced by the market operator, representing an improvement from the previous quarter.
According to the report, the payment represents “93.92% remittance performance and represents an increase of 0.64pp when compared to 93.28% remittance performance recorded in 2026/Q1 when DisCos remitted ₦83.74 billion out of ₦89.78 billion invoice issued by the MO”.
The commission said all DisCos, except Abuja, Yola, Ibadan, Kano, Jos and Kaduna, achieved 100 per cent remittance performance to the market operator in Q2.
The report put the individual remittance rates at 99.93 per cent for Abuja, 99.34 per cent for Yola, 98.73 per cent for Ibadan, 69.72 per cent for Kano, 67.09 per cent for Jos and 57.86 per cent for Kaduna.
Compared with Q1, Kano and Jos recorded declines of 14.97 percentage points and 5.32 percentage points respectively in their remittance performance to the market operator.