The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that three international electricity customers Togo, Niger and Benin owe Nigeria a combined $17.8 million, equivalent to over N25 billion, for power supplied under bilateral cross-border arrangements.
The disclosure was contained in NERC’s Third Quarter 2025 Report, which showed that the three countries were invoiced a total of $18.69 million by the Market Operator for electricity supplied during the period, but remitted only $7.125 million, leaving an unpaid balance of $11.56 million.
In addition to the current quarter’s obligations, NERC said the international customers also settled $7.84 million from outstanding legacy invoices amounting to $14.07 million, leaving an unpaid balance of $6.23 million from previous quarters.
Taken together, the regulator said the cumulative outstanding debt from both the previous quarter and the third quarter of 2025 stood at $17.6 million.
The international offtakers were identified 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.
Electricity supplied to the three countries was generated by grid-connected Nigerian generation companies (GenCos) and delivered through bilateral cross-border power supply arrangements under the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
Low remittance performance
According to NERC, payments made by the international bilateral customers during the quarter represented a 38.09% remittance performance, with more than half of the invoices remaining unpaid at the end of the reporting period.
“The three 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 Market Operator for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to a remittance performance of 38.09 per cent,” the commission said.
The regulator explained that part of the payments received during the quarter related to electricity supplied in earlier periods.
“It is noteworthy that some bilateral customers also made payments for outstanding Market Operator invoices from previous quarters, as follows: the MO received $7.84 million from the international bilateral customers and N1.3 billion from the domestic bilateral customers,” the report added.
