Nigeria’s electricity generation increased by 10.92% in the first quarter of 2025, driven by improved operational capacity and availability of thermal and hydropower plants supplying electricity to the national grid, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reported.
The just published report of the Commission for the Power Sector in Q1 2025, showed that the total energy generated by the power Generation Companies (GenCos) increased to 10,304.47 gigawatt-hours (GWh), compared to 9,289.95 GWh in the previous quarter.
According to NERC, the average hourly generation on the grid also improved, rising by 13.39% to 4,770.59 megawatt-hours per hour (MWh/h), from 4,207.41 MWh/h in Q4 2024, representing an increase of 563.18 MWh/h in average hourly output.
The NERC reported: “The hourly generation and the total generation increased by +13.39% and +10.92%10 respectively in 2025/Q1 compared to 2024/Q4; the hourly generation increased from 4,207.41MWh/h generated in 2024/Q4 to 4,770.59MWh/h (+563.18MWh/h)
“While the total generation increased from 9,289.95GWh generated in 2024/Q4 to 10,304.47GWh (+1,014.52GWh) in 2025/Q1. The increase in quarterly generation is attributable to the increase in the cumulative available generation capacity of the grid-connected plants”, it added.
During the quarter under review, the commission revealed that 19 power plants improved their output and largely accounted for the nation’s improved power generation capacity.
The report reflected that during the quarter, thermal power plants were the main drivers of the increase in electricity generation. Out of the 23 thermal plants connected to the national grid, 16 recorded higher average hourly output compared to the previous quarter.
But then, the hydropower plants also contributed to the growth, with the five grid-connected hydro stations generating a combined increase of 54.93 MWh/h, reflecting a 4% improvement over their total output in Q4, 2024.
The NERC noted that despite the improvement in the nation’s power generation, some challenges such as supply of fuel to power plants, equipment reliability, and the cost of running the plants still persisted and were hampering the GenCos’ drive to optimize their power output capacity
