The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that Togo, the Niger Republic, and the Benin Republic owe Nigeria a total of $11.57 million for electricity supplied in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025.
The commission made this known in its Q3 2025 report, released this week.
According to NERC, the Market Operator (MO) issued an invoice of $18.69 million to the three countries for electricity supplied by Nigerian electricity generation companies (GenCos) under bilateral arrangements. However, only $7.12 million was paid.
“The three (3) international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $7.12 million against the cumulative invoice of $18.69 million issued by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to a remittance performance of 38.09%,” the report reads.
NERC identified the international offtakers as Compagnie Énergie Électrique du Togo, Société Béninoise d’Énergie Électrique of the Republic of Benin, and Société Nigérienne d’Électricité of the Republic of Niger.
The commission noted that domestic bilateral customers demonstrated better payment performance.
According to the report, they paid ₦3.19 billion out of the ₦3.64 billion invoice issued by the Market Operator for Q3 2025. NERC stated that this represented an 87.61 percent remittance performance.
“It is noteworthy that some bilateral customers also made payments for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters, as follows: the MO received $7.84 million from the international bilateral customers and ₦1,299.66 million from the domestic bilateral customers,” NERC stated.
NERC also revealed that Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and its host community, described as a special customer, failed to make any payment during the quarter.
According to the commission, the customer did not pay the ₦1.03 billion invoice issued by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, nor the ₦100 million invoice issued by the Market Operator. The commission said this continues a long history of non-payment.
NERC added that this situation remains a concern, noting that it has already drawn the attention of the Federal Government to the matter.
The regulator said the persistent debt by both international and local customers continues to affect liquidity in Nigeria’s electricity market and the ability of power generation companies to operate effectively.
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