The Federal Government’s power sector reforms are yielding measurable results, with over $2 billion in fresh capital flowing into the industry since the current administration took office, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has said.
He made this known in Lagos during the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC’s) Annual Power and Utilities Roundtable 2025, with the theme, ‘Nigeria’s Multi-tier Electricity Market: Imperatives for Successful Evolution.’
At the heart of the power sector reform agenda is the long-standing metering crisis where, for instance, six million consumers have been metered, out of 13 million registered power consumers in Nigeria.
However, this leaves nearly half of electricity users on estimated billing, a system widely criticised as unreliable and exploitative.
To close this gap, Adelabu said the government has launched an aggressive metering rollout through two major initiatives: the Presidential Metering Initiative—backed by N700 billion to deploy 10 million meters over five years—and the $500 million District Sector Recovery Programme.
The later, according to him, will add another 3.45 million meters and introduce modern meter-data technologies for real-time monitoring. “Remote tracking of meters will improve collections, boost liquidity, and ensure that consumers pay only for what they use,” Adebola said.
The Minister also said beyond consumer-level reform, Nigeria is implementing deeper structural changes in how electricity is generated, sold, and regulated.
He stated that one of the most consequential shifts has been the decentralisation of the electricity market through the Electricity Act 2023, enabling state governments to independently generate, transmit and distribute power.
This has triggered the emergence of state-level electricity markets for the first time in history, allowing regions to design local energy solutions tailored to their economic needs.
Accompanying this shift, the Minister noted, is the development of a National Integrated Electricity Policy—approved in February 2025 after more than two decades without a sector-wide roadmap—defining the responsibilities of regulators, utilities, investors, technical operators and consumers across traditional and renewable energy sectors.
The commercialisation of the industry is also reshaping sector economics. For instance, in 2023, electricity revenue at the distribution level was about N1 trillion. By 2024, that figure had jumped to N1.7 trillion—a 70 per cent increase—with projections nearing N2.3 trillion by December 2025.
The Minister stressed that this increase is not the result of higher consumer tariffs but a strategic reallocation of spending away from diesel, petrol and generator costs toward grid-based supply.
