Togo, Niger, Benin owe Nigeria N25bn for electricity supply, NERC says
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that Nigeria is being owed the sum of $17.8m by Togo, Niger, and Benin for electricity supplied under bilateral arrangements. The debt is equivalent to over N25bn at the current exchange rate.
NERC disclosed this in its Third Quarter 2025 report, stating that the three international customers only paid the sum of $7.125m out of the $18.69m they were invoiced by the Market Operator for electricity supplied during the period, leaving an outstanding balance of $11.56m.
Also, of the legacy invoices of $14.7m, the three countries only paid $7.84m, leaving a balance of $6.23m. The total debt therefore amounted to $17.8m, equivalent to N25.36bn at an exchange rate of N1,425 to a dollar.
The international offtakers include, 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.
According to NERC, “The three international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $7.12m against the cumulative invoice of $18.69m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to a remittance performance of 38.09 per cent”.
The report however stated that domestic bilateral customers performed better, as they remitted N3.19bn out of the N3.64bn invoiced to them during the quarter, representing a remittance performance of 87.61 per cent.
“The domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N3.19bn against the invoice of N3.64bn issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to 87.61 per cent remittance performance,” the report said.
The report also added that some bilateral customers made payments for outstanding debts in the quarters before the one under review.
“It is noteworthy that some bilateral customers also made payments for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters, as follows: the MO received $7.84m from the international bilateral customers and N1.3bn from the domestic bilateral customers,” it added.
As part of its statutory assessment of the commercial performance of the electricity market, NERC noted that the figures were based on reconciled market settlements submitted to the commission as of December 18, 2025.
The report further disclosed that the total sum of N381.29bn out of a total invoice of $400.48bn was remitted by the 11 electricity distribution companies in Nigeria to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator in Q3 of 2025, resulting in a remittance performance of 95.21 per cent.
