The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said that Togo, Republic of Benin and Niger Republic failed to pay $12.66 million electricity bill in the first quarter of 2026.
Of the $17.48 million bill that was issued to them, the three international customers remitted $4.84 million, being 27.57 per cent for the energy the electricity Generation Companies supplied them in the period under review.
This was made known in the 2026 Q1 Report the commission issued on Tuesday.
The commission said the remittances made by bilateral customers for invoices issued in 2026/Q1 by the Market Operator showed that the three international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $4.82 million against the cumulative invoice of $17.48 million issued by the MO for services rendered in 2026/Q1, translating to a remittance performance of 27.57 per cent.
According to the report, the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N5,816.28 million against the invoice of N6,122.35 million issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2026/Q1, translating to 95.00 per cent remittance performance.
NERC added that during Q1 2026, three international and nine domestic bilateral customers made payments of $6.64 million and N2,589.07 million, respectively, towards outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters.
In the breakdown, the report said the MO received a total of $4.05 million from Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique, comprising payments for Ughelli and Paras.
It also said $1.87 million was received from Mainstream – Société Nigérienne d’Electricité, and $0.72 million from Paras – Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo.
According to the report, the special customer, Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and the host community, did not make any payment towards the N676.88 million and N189.38 million invoices received in 2026/Q1.
NERC stressed that this continues a longstanding trend of non-payment by this customer, and the Commission has communicated the need for intervention on this issue to the relevant Federal Government authorities.
In the period under review, the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2026/Q1 was N597.56 billion out of the N756.93 billion that was billed to customers, translating to a collection efficiency of 78.95 per cent.
On subsidy, the report revealed that due to the absence of cost-reflective tariffs across all DisCos, the government incurred a subsidy obligation of N358.32 billion, representing a N60.46 billion reduction in FGN subsidy compared to 2025/Q4.
The government subsidy accounted for 51.95 per cent of the total GenCo invoice, which is a 0.08 percentage point decrease compared to 2025/Q4.
The report explained that the key driver of this reduction in FGN subsidy obligation is the decrease in energy offtake of the DisCos by 8.56 per cent between 2025/Q4 and 2026/Q1.
