World Bank retains metering support despite Nigeria power loan cut

The World Bank has confirmed the continuation of the Nigerian government’s $500 million Distribution Sector Recove ry Programme (DISREP), providing relief to stakeholders amid concerns over the future of key power sector reform initiatives.

The programme, backed by the World Bank, is designed to improve the financial and technical performance of Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) through investments in metering, network rehabilitation and operational efficiency.

The clarification followed concerns triggered by the cancellation of the $717 million undisbursed portion of the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) financing facility, which had raised questions about whether other electricity sector support programmes would also be affected since DISREP operates directly under the umbrella of the PSRP.

“The World Bank Group remains fully committed to supporting the Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Program, which is improving metering and distribution performance,” Mansir Nasir, Senior External Affairs Officer, World Bank Group, told BusinessDay on Wednesday.

He said the World Bank Group remains committed to supporting Nigeria’s power sector and continues to work closely with the Government to improve electricity provision and access despite confirmed cancellation of the undisbursed portion of the Power Sector Recovery Performance-Based Operation Additional Financing.

“This includes ongoing support through operations such as the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project, which is strengthening transmission capacity; and the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES) project, which is expanding off-grid and distributed renewable energy access and contributing to the Bank Group’s ‘Mission 300’ initiative to increase energy access across Africa,” Mansir noted.

The programme is showing signs of progress despite lingering governance and implementation concerns, with over 265,000 meters installed, 400,000 smart meters already delivered into the country, and electricity billing efficiency improving across distribution companies.

The latest Implementation Status and Results Report (ISR) of the DISREP showed that the World Bank retained a “Moderately Satisfactory” rating for both progress toward the programme’s development objectives and overall implementation progress.

The report, published in March 2026, said implementation had continued to make “steady progress across its key components” following the restructuring approval granted in December 2024.

The strongest sign of progress came from the metering programme. According to the report, implementation of the 1.44 million smart meter contracts signed in August 2024 was ongoing, with “400,000 meters having already reached Nigeria.”

“Furthermore, the launching of the procurement for another 1.5 million smart meters, the contract for the 217,000 smart meters procured through limited approach bidding, and the signature of the meter data management system contracts are expected in January, 2026,” the Bank stated.

Data contained in the report showed that the number of customer meters installed under the programme rose from 129,000 in January 2026 to 265,000 by March 10, 2026, against a target of 3.2 million meters by December 2027.

The World Bank said the programme’s objective remains “to improve financial and technical performance of the electricity distribution companies.”

The report showed measurable improvements in Disco performance indicators. Nigeria’s metering gap dropped from a baseline of 60.6 percent in October 2020 to 53.4 percent by January 2026, while billing efficiency rose from 79.2 percent in December 2023 to 82.12 percent.

Collection performance also improved under the programme. Semi-annual collection of billed electricity increased from 66 percent in April 2023 to 75.56 percent by January 2026.

The report also pointed to wider network and customer expansion gains. Nigerians provided with direct access to electricity through new connections increased to 292,000 people by March 2026 from 105,780 earlier recorded in January.

In addition, the World Bank disclosed that more than 3 million customers had been mapped using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), while eight management information systems had already been implemented under the programme.

Despite the progress, the report maintained an overall “Substantial” risk rating for the programme across several categories, including political and governance risks, macroeconomic risks, fiduciary concerns, institutional capacity limitations, and environmental and social risks.

The report also acknowledged that some governance-related reforms were still incomplete. According to the World Bank, DisCos were yet to fully incorporate DISREP into their fraud and corruption complaints redress mechanisms, with completion expected by March 2026.

On programme implementation, the report noted that “the new DISREP Program Coordinator was selected” and would lead day-to-day execution of the initiative.

Financial records contained in the report showed that the $500 million facility had disbursed $73.63 million so far, representing 14.73 percent of the total financing, while over $403 million remained undisbursed.

The programme’s revised closing date was extended from June 2026 to May 2028, giving the Federal Government and participating DisCos additional time to execute reforms and achieve their targets.