Togo, Niger, and Benin owe Nigeria over N25 billion ($17.8 million) for electricity supplied under bilateral agreements, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reported.
In its Third Quarter 2025 report, NERC revealed that the three countries were invoiced $18.69 million by the Market Operator for power supplied during the period but remitted only $7.125 million, leaving an unpaid balance of $11.56 million. Legacy invoices from previous quarters added another $6.23 million to the debt, bringing the total outstanding to $17.8 million (approximately N25.36bn at N1,425 per dollar).
The international customers include Compagnie Énergie Électrique du Togo, Société Béninoise d’Énergie Électrique of Benin, and Société Nigérienne d’Électricité of Niger. Electricity supplied to these countries came from Nigeria’s grid-connected generation companies through cross-border bilateral arrangements.
“The three international bilateral customers supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $7.12 million against the cumulative invoice of $18.69 million issued by the Market Operator for Q3 2025, translating to a remittance performance of 38.09 per cent,” NERC stated.
Domestic bilateral customers performed better, remitting N3.19 billion out of N3.64 billion invoiced, representing an 87.61 per cent payment rate. Some customers also cleared previous quarters’ invoices, with international bilateral customers paying $7.84 million and domestic customers N1.3 billion.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies remitted a combined N381.29 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator out of a total N400.48 billion invoiced in Q3 2025, a 95.21 per cent remittance rate.
NERC noted that these figures were based on reconciled market settlements submitted as of December 18, 2025, and are part of the statutory assessment of the commercial performance of Nigeria’s electricity market.
