Togo Niger and Benin Fall Behind on N25bn Electricity Payments to Nigeria – NERC

January 8, 2026

Togo, Niger, and Benin currently owe Nigeria about N25bn for electricity supplied to them under bilateral power agreements, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. The regulator disclosed this in its Third Quarter 2025 report on the performance of the electricity market.

NERC said the three countries were invoiced a total of $18.69m for electricity supplied during the third quarter of 2025 by the Market Operator. However, they only paid $7.125m, leaving an outstanding balance of $11.56m for the quarter.

In addition to the current debt, the international customers also had unpaid invoices from previous quarters. Out of a legacy debt of $14.7m, they paid $7.84m, leaving a balance of $6.23m. This means the total outstanding debt from both past and recent invoices stands at $17.8m, which is about N25.36bn at an exchange rate of N1,425 to one dollar.

The commission identified the indebted power offtakers as Compagnie Énergie Électrique du Togo, Société Béninoise d’Énergie Électrique of Benin, and Société Nigérienne d’Électricité of Niger. These companies purchase electricity generated by Nigerian power generation companies through cross-border bilateral arrangements.

According to NERC, the three international customers recorded a remittance performance of just 38.09 per cent in Q3 2025, as more than half of the invoices issued by the Market Operator remained unpaid at the end of the quarter. The electricity supplied to them was generated by grid-connected Nigerian GenCos.

In contrast, domestic bilateral customers performed much better during the same period. NERC said local customers paid N3.19bn out of the N3.64bn invoiced to them in Q3 2025, representing a remittance performance of 87.61 per cent.

The commission also noted that some bilateral customers made payments for electricity supplied in earlier quarters. During the period under review, the Market Operator received $7.84m from international customers and N1.3bn from domestic customers as part of efforts to clear old debts.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies remitted a total of N381.29bn to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator in Q3 2025. This was out of a total invoice of N400.48bn, representing a strong remittance performance of 95.21 per cent, based on reconciled market settlements submitted to NERC as of December 18, 2025.