Seventeen (17) people died and Thirteen (13) others were injured in 24 electricity-related accidents across Nigeria’s power sector in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The figures, continued in NERC’s Q1, 2026 report, cover incidents recorded across the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) between January and March.
The Commission said it has opened investigations into all the 24 accidents and would continue to work with stakeholders across the sector to improve health and safety standards.
This report comes barely two weeks after NERC convened first biannual Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) meeting for the NESI, bringing together safety officials from across the power sector to review accident trends and discuss ways to reduce them.
The three-day meeting held in Abuja, drew HSE and Performance Managers from power Generation Companies (GenCos), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Distribution Companies (DisCos), who examined industry-wide safety performance and worked on strategies to cut down accidents across the electricity value-chain.
Speaking at the opening session, the Head of NERC’s Technical Regulation Division, Engr. Abu Kadiri, announced the release of a new Health and Safety Code for the industry and called on participants to ensure it is properly implemented, urging them to sensitise staff within their respective organisations.
Engr. Kadiri also highlighted the Commission’s ongoing efforts to reduce accidents and improve overall safety performance across the sector.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Head of Health, Safety and Environment at NERC, Dr. Jonathan Okoronkwo, identified stakeholder sensitisation against the vandalism of critical power infrastructure as one of the Commission’s key safety initiatives, noting that protecting electricity assets is essential to safeguarding lives and ensuring reliable power supply.
Beyond safety figures, the NERC Q1, 2026 report, also detained customer complaint trends for the quarter. DisCos resolved 178 out of the 216 complaints that were filed at the NERC Consumer Complaint Unit, (NERCCCU), representing a resolution rate of 82.41%.
Across all DisCo Customer Complaint Units (DisCo-CCU), 91,617 complaints were received in 2025/Q4, represents a 55.35% increase compared to the 58,973 recorded in the previous quarters, metering, billing and service interruption were the prevalent issues of customer complaints during the quarter.
One forum Office was closed during the quarter, leaving 22 active Forum Offices as of 31 March 2026.
The total number of active appeals across the Forum Offices in 2026/Q1 was 1,140, made up of 890 new appeals in 2026/Q1 and 250 pending appeals from 2025/Q4.
NERC said during the period, the forum panels held forty (40) sittings and resolved 772 of the appeals filed at Forum Offices nationwide (67.72% resolution rate); the resolution rate was 2.85pp lower than the 70.57% achieved in 2025/Q4.
