Three West African nations, Benin, Togo and Niger have failed to remit a combined $9.55 million to Nigeria for electricity supplied in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s fourth-quarter 2025 report show that the market operator issued invoices totalling $20.44 million to the three countries under international bilateral arrangements.
However, only $10.89 million was paid, reflecting a remittance rate of 53.28 per cent, according to The Punch.
The report stated, “The three international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the Nigerian electricity supply industry made a payment of $10.89m against the cumulative invoice of $20.44m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q4, translating to a remittance performance of 53.28 per cent.”
This implies that for every $100 invoiced to the international customers, only $53.28 was settled, leaving an outstanding balance of $46.72 — culminating in the total unpaid sum of $9.55 million.
The outstanding payments involve power utilities across the three countries. In the Benin Republic, Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique received electricity through Paras and Transcorp’s Ughelli and Afam 3 plants.
In Togo, Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo was supplied via Paras and Odukpani, while in Niger, Société Nigerienne d’Electricite received power from Mainstream.
Of the six international bilateral contracts, only a handful recorded fairly reasonable remittances. For example, Paras-SBEE in Benin was invoiced $2.45 million and remitted $1.67 million, representing 68.16 per cent.
Similarly, Paras-CEET in Togo was billed $2.18 million and paid $1.46 million, translating to 64.97 per cent.
However, Transcorp-SBEE (Ughelli) in Benin showed a significantly weaker performance, settling just $0.46 million out of a $3.74 million invoice — a low 12.30 per cent remittance rate.
Transcorp-SBEE (Afam 3) in Benin posted a stronger performance, remitting $3.21 million out of the $3.90 million invoiced, an 82.31 per cent payment rate.
Mainstream-NIGELEC in Niger received the highest invoice of $5.96 million and paid $4.09 million, reflecting a 68.63 per cent remittance level.
In contrast, Odukpani-CEET in Togo was billed $2.18 million but made no payment, recording a 0.00 per cent remittance rate.
The NERC report further disclosed that one international customer and one domestic bilateral customer cleared portions of their outstanding invoices from previous quarters. SBEE remitted $3.54 million to the market operator, while APLE paid N141 million.
“It is noteworthy that one international and one domestic bilateral customer made payments in 2025/Q4 for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters. The MO received $3.54m from Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (Ughelli, $1.86m, and Afam 3, $1.67m) and N141.14m from APLE towards outstanding invoices from previous quarters,” it was stated.
In contrast to the weak remittance performance by Nigeria’s neighbours, domestic bilateral customers demonstrated stronger payment discipline.
“The domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N3.5bn against the invoice of N4.17bn issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q4, translating to 84.23 per cent remittance performance,” the report said.
This indicates that local bilateral customers paid 84 kobo for every naira invoiced to them.
Meanwhile, Ajaokuta Steel Company, classified as a special customer, was billed N1.26bn by the Market Operator but made no payment within the period under review.
The report noted that the remittance figures “are based on reconciled market settlement submitted to the commission as of 2 April 2026.”
