Calculate how many kWh your electricity budget buys at your DisCo band tariff and how long it will last based on your daily appliance use. Covers Band A through E.
Nigeria's electricity distribution system uses a service band framework introduced by NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) in 2020. Customers are placed in bands based on the number of hours of electricity supply they receive per day. Band A customers receive 20+ hours of supply and pay the highest tariff. Band E customers receive fewer than 4 hours and pay the lowest tariff. The tariff differential is designed to cross-subsidise low-supply customers while charging market rates to reliably-supplied ones.
Band assignment is done by your DisCo (Distribution Company -- Eko DISCO, Ikeja DISCO, AEDC, etc.) based on your feeder's actual supply record. Disputes about band placement can be reported to NERC. Since 2024, many high-density urban areas have been upgraded to Band A and B as DisCos have invested in their highest-revenue feeders, while rural and peri-urban areas remain in Bands D and E.
Nigerian prepaid meters (predominantly Itron and Conlog models) display your balance in kWh (kilowatt-hours). When you top up, your vending code credits a specific number of kWh calculated as: Amount / Tariff Rate per kWh. A ₦5,000 top-up on a Band C meter at ₦150/kWh buys 33.3 kWh. A 60-watt bulb burning for 1 hour uses 0.06 kWh. An air conditioner (1HP) running for 1 hour uses 0.75 kWh.
Your units drain at a rate determined by the total wattage of all appliances currently running divided by 1,000. If you have 500W of appliances on, you use 0.5 kWh per hour, or ₦75/hour on Band C. The appliance checklist in this calculator lets you see exactly which items are draining your units fastest and plan your consumption accordingly.
Band D and E customers (4-8 hours supply) typically supplement with generators for the remaining hours. For them, every kWh on the grid is precious. High-impact strategies: replace incandescent or CFL bulbs with LED (80% reduction in lighting load), use fans instead of air conditioning whenever possible (10x less energy), cook on gas rather than electric, and charge all devices during grid hours rather than running inverters unnecessarily.
Band A and B customers have more supply but face higher tariffs. Their priority is load management: only run high-wattage appliances (iron, kettle, microwave) during grid supply hours rather than on inverter, and time-shift washing machine and water pump use to off-peak periods. Setting a monthly budget and tracking daily load against that budget -- as this calculator enables -- is the most reliable way to avoid running out of units at inconvenient times.