…. AMCON Offloads Ibadan DisCo For ₦100bn
Electricity distribution companies in Nigeria generated over ₦553 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, according to a new report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) — even as the federal government confirmed the sale of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) for ₦100 billion, a deal now mired in legal controversy.
NERC’s Q1 2025 performance report, released Thursday, showed that the DisCos billed a total of ₦744.27 billion, with a collection efficiency of 74.39%, marking a 3.05 percentage-point decline from the 77.44% recorded in Q4 2024.
The commission attributed the dip in efficiency to a 10.06% increase in energy offtake, which it said often results in lower returns as more energy is distributed to areas with historically poor payment records.
“Typically, when DisCos off-take more energy, they allocate the incremental energy to areas where they record historically lower billing and collection efficiencies,” NERC explained.
Only three DisCos — Kano, Abuja, and Enugu — improved their revenue collection between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. Eko DisCo recorded the highest collection efficiency at 84.79%, while Jos DisCo had the lowest at 47.19%. The worst declines came from Port Harcourt (-15.11pp), Kaduna (-7.12pp) and Eko (-5.21pp).
Meanwhile, in what has become a landmark move in the power sector, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has confirmed the sale of Ibadan DisCo for ₦100 billion, following months of negotiations and a previously rejected lower offer.
Speaking during a media briefing on Thursday, AMCON Managing Director Gbenga Alake said the company had rejected an initial bid that undervalued the asset and demanded a resubmission.
“We got in and said no, it cannot be. We said they should go and submit a new offer… At the end of the day, we got almost double of what Ibadan DisCo was going to be sold for,” Alake said.
Alake, however, acknowledged that legal suits have trailed the sale. A civil society organisation, the African Initiative Against Abuse of Public Trust, filed a case in the Federal High Court, Abuja, alleging that the sale was secretive and undervalued, with potential losses of up to $107 million to the Nigerian government compared to the 2013 valuation.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/866/2025, lists AMCON, NERC, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and IBEDC as defendants, challenging the sale of a 60% stake for $62 million, despite a previous valuation of $169 million.
Despite the controversy, AMCON insists that the transaction followed due process.
“We have sold it… and whatever is still happening in court, we will face it,” Alake stated.
The federal government had earlier signaled its intent to divest from five struggling DisCos under the control of AMCON and commercial banks. Aside from IBEDC, others on the list include Abuja, Benin, Kaduna, and Kano Electricity Distribution Companies.
Meanwhile, NERC says it is ramping up efforts to improve efficiency in the sector. Over 41,000 Band A customers have been metered under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) scheme since its implementation in June 2024.
DisCos are also expected to continue deploying meters under other frameworks such as the Meter Asset Programme (MAP) and the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
NERC concluded that improved metering and customer enumeration are critical to boosting collection performance and reducing losses across the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
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