IMPACT AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES OF TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL ENERGY LOSSES IN NIGERIA’S POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Nigeria’s power distribution networks continue to experience some of the highest energy losses globally, severely undermining operational efficiency, grid reliability, and the financial viability of utilities. This paper presents a detailed, systematic review of technical and commercial energy losses in the Nigerian power sector. Overloaded feeders, ageing infrastructure, reactive power imbalance, and weak network design mainly drive technical losses. Commercial losses stem from inadequate metering, electricity theft, billing inefficiencies, and poor customer indexing. Therefore, drawing on verified academic sources, regulatory reports, and global benchmarks, this study highlights the severity of Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collection (ATC&C) losses across distribution companies (DisCos), which often exceed 40%. Traditional mitigation techniques, such as network reinforcement, capacitor placement, and customer auditing, show limited long-term effectiveness without regulatory compliance, adequate investment, and digital grid modernisation. Therefore, this paper concludes that the adoption of predictive models has strong potential to enhance predictive accuracy for highly volatile, irregular Nigerian electricity datasets, thereby empowering DISCOMs to forecast technical and commercial (ATC&C) losses more reliably, optimise smart-meter rollout strategies, prioritise feeder rehabilitation, and deploy targeted anti-theft interventions. Far-reaching suggestions were made to reduce energy loss in Nigeria’s power distribution networks.