The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said that three African countries, Togo, Niger, and Benin owes Nigeria $17.8m, an equivalent of over N25bn at the current exchange rate, for electricity supplied under bilateral arrangements.
This was disclosed by NERC in its 2025 third Quarter 2025 report. NERC reported that the three international customers were invoiced a total of $18.69m for electricity supplied during the period, but they remitted only $7.125m, leaving an outstanding balance of $11.56m.
The regulator 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.
According to NERC, the three international bilateral customers purchasing power from the grid-connected GenCos made a cumulative payment of $7.125m against the $18.69m invoice issued to them by the Market Operator for services rendered in 2025/Q3.
It stated that the remittance level represented a 38.09 per cent remittance performance, with more than half of the invoices remaining unpaid at the end of the quarter.
It was noted that the electricity supplied to the three countries was generated by grid-connected Nigerian generation companies and delivered through bilateral cross-border power arrangements.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission stated that three international bilateral customers supplied by Generation Companies within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry paid a total of 7.12 million dollars out of the 18.69 million dollars invoiced by the Market Operator for services rendered in the third quarter of 2025. This represents a remittance performance of 38.09 percent.
By comparison, domestic bilateral customers recorded stronger performance during the same period. According to NERC, they remitted 3.19 billion naira out of the 3.64 billion naira invoiced for the quarter, amounting to a remittance rate of 87.61 percent.
The commission noted that some bilateral customers also made payments for electricity supplied in earlier quarters. It disclosed that the Market Operator received an additional 7.84 million dollars from international bilateral customers and 1.3 billion naira from domestic bilateral customers as settlement of outstanding invoices from previous periods.
NERC further revealed that the country’s 11 electricity distribution companies remitted a combined total of 381.29 billion naira to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator in the third quarter of 2025. This was out of a total invoice of 400.48 billion naira, representing a remittance performance of 95.21 percent.
The commission explained that the figures were derived from reconciled market settlement reports submitted to it as of December 18, 2025, in line with its statutory evaluation of the commercial performance of the electricity market.
The commission added that it will continue to monitor remittance patterns across the electricity market, stressing the need for improved compliance to ensure market stability, efficient power supply, and the overall sustainability of Nigeria’s electricity sector.
