The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says that three international customers are owing Nigeria $17.8 million (an equivalent of over N25 billion) for electricity supplied under bilateral arrangements.
This was disclosed by NERC in its Third Quarter 2025 report, where it noted that these customers, namely Togo, Niger, and Benin, were invoiced a total of $18.69 million by the Market Operator for electricity supplied during the period.
The regulator said that they, however, remitted only $7.125 million, leaving an outstanding balance of $11.56 million.
Also, these international bilateral customers had paid $7.84 million from the legacy invoices of $14.07 million, leaving a balance of $6.23 million. This leaves the total debt incurred from the previous quarter and that of the third quarter of 2025 at $17.6 million.
NERC identified the international offtakers 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 and delivered through bilateral cross-border power arrangements.
Further insight
According to NERC, the three international bilateral customers’ purchasing power from the grid-connected GenCos made a cumulative payment of $7.125 million against the $18.69 million invoice issued to them by the Market Operator for services rendered in 2025/Q3.
It stated that the remittance level represented a 38.09% remittance performance, with more than half of the invoices remaining unpaid at the end of the quarter.
“The three international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $7.12m against the cumulative invoice of $18.69m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to a remittance performance of 38.09 per cent.”
The commission explained that some bilateral customers paid for power purchased in the quarters before the one being reviewed.
The report partly reads, “It is noteworthy that some bilateral customers also made payments for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters, as follows: the MO received $7.84m from the international bilateral customers and N1.3bn from the domestic bilateral customers.’’
In contrast, NERC said domestic bilateral customers performed better, remitting N3.19bn out of the N3.64bn invoiced to them during the quarter, representing a remittance rate of 87.61%
“The domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N3.19 billion against the invoice of N3.64bn issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to 87.61 per cent remittance performance,” it added.
The Commission further disclosed that Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies remitted a combined N381.29 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator in Q3 2025, out of a total invoice of N400.48 billion, translating to a remittance performance of 95.21%.
As part of its statutory assessment of the commercial performance of the electricity market, the Regulator noted that the figures were based on reconciled market settlements submitted to the commission as of December 18, 2025.
What you should know
In a related development, Nairametrics had in December 2025 reported that the Federal Government had issued the first bond under the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme, marking a major step in efforts to address longstanding payment arrears in Nigeria’s electricity industry.
The N590 billion Series 1 Power Sector Bond was issued by NBET Finance Company Plc, a special purpose vehicle of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc.
The bond is backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government of Nigeria, according to a statement from the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy.
