Power-generating enterprises in Nigeria have endured an astonishing loss of N2.31tn over the past twelve years due to electricity that was poised for generation but ultimately wasted due to grid and operational impediments. This startling revelation comes from recent data released by the Association of Power Generation Companies, the governing body representing all electricity generation firms in the nation, as analyzed by our correspondent on Sunday.
This staggering figure reflects surmounting challenges recorded from 2013 through September 2025.
The amount signifies the cumulative worth of power that was primed for generation yet could not be channeled through the national grid or delivered to final consumers.
Sourced from the National Control Centre and shared by APGC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Joy Ogaji, during its 20th anniversary festivities, this data underscores the escalating financial burden burdening the country’s electricity market, as power producers grapple with substantial losses stemming from stranded generation capacity.
In practical terms, Annual Capacity Payment Loss denotes the monetary value associated with electricity generation capacity that, while available, remains unused or fails to reach consumers because of technical or operational constraints within the transmission and distribution infrastructures.
For instance, although generation companies commonly report between 6,000MW and 7,000MW available capacity, the national grid typically evacuates around 4,500MW—a deficit that incurs losses in the billions of naira in capacity payments.
The findings unveil a continual structural inefficiency plaguing Nigeria’s electricity marketplace, as yearly, more than 2,000 megawatts of power remain stranded, despite significant investments in generation capacity since the sector’s privatization.
According to the data, the total stranded generation capacity from January to September 2025 averaged 2,221.99MW, resulting in N119bn in capacity payment losses throughout the nine-month period.
A cumulative analysis since 2013 indicates that the market has relinquished over N2.3tn to dormant capacity that could not be transmitted or distributed—an amount significant enough to construct hundreds of substations or finance new gas plants.
The data illustrated that, for example, in 2015, stranded generation surged, with 3,010.24MW (45.50 percent) left unexploited, costing the sector N214.93bn. Similarly, 2016 witnessed the most challenging year on record, with an average of 3,827.98MW stranded, representing 54.38 percent of the available generation capacity, leading to financial repercussions of N273.32bn.
In 2017, 3,311MW of power was stranded, translating to a significant annual capacity payment loss of N236.47bn, while in 2018, losses escalated to N264.08bn as stranded capacity rose to 3,698MW. In 2019 and 2020, the figures stood at N256.85bn and N266.10bn respectively, along with approximately 3,597MW and 3,742MW in those respective years.
Notably, from 2021, the challenge of stranded power appeared to diminish slightly, with losses of N159.85bn and 2,248MW, and in 2022, this reduced further to N132.19bn and 1,816MW respectively. In 2023, stranded power amounted to N162.06bn and 2,226MW, while the duration of 2024 experienced capacity losses of N154.72bn and 2,180MW.
Nigeria’s available generation capacity averaged 6,806.63 megawatts from January to September 2025. However, only about 4,637.72MW was actually harnessed, leaving 2,221.99MW stranded each month.
Consequently, approximately 32 percent of the electricity that could have been tapped went to waste, as indicated by the information.
A detailed breakdown of the 2025 data revealed that the highest losses transpired in August (N20.17bn), followed by September (N16.86bn) and July (N15.77bn). The least losses were recorded in February, tallying at N8.34bn.
