The Federal Government has revealed that Benin Republic and Togo owe Nigeria a total of $8.84 million for electricity supplied to them in the fourth quarter of 2024. This was disclosed in a recent report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), detailing payments made by local and international customers under the country’s electricity market structure.
According to NERC, the report highlights the remittance performance of bilateral and special customers who received electricity invoices from the Market Operator during the last three months of 2024. The data shows that while Nigerian power generation companies (Gencos) supplied electricity to six international bilateral customers, only $5.21 million was paid out of a total invoice of $14.05 million issued for the period. This represents a remittance performance of just 37.08 per cent.
The report further broke down the payments made by the international customers. Paras-SBEE in Benin Republic paid $2.65 million, while Paras-CEET, also in Benin, remitted $1.64 million. Transcorp-SBEE (Ughelli), another Benin-based entity, settled $1.71 million out of its total $3.59 million invoice, while Transcorp-SBEE (Afam 3) cleared $0.90 million out of its $1.2 million invoice. Meanwhile, Odukpani-CEET in Togo remains indebted to the tune of $2.37 million.
Notably, the only international customer that fully paid its invoice was Mainstream-NIGELEC, which settled its $2.60 million obligation in full.
In addition to the international payments, NERC disclosed that domestic bilateral customers in Nigeria remitted a total of ₦1.25 million, out of ₦1.98 million invoiced to them in the last quarter of 2024. This translates to a remittance performance of 63.36 per cent.
The report also noted that some of these customers, both domestic and international, made partial payments for outstanding invoices from previous quarters. Specifically, Paras-CEET, Paras-SBEE, and Transcorp-SBEE collectively paid $0.98 million, $0.7 million, and $1.3 million respectively towards their backlog. On the domestic front, the Market Operator received ₦135.81 million from different customers, including NDPHC-Weewood (₦21.17 million), North South/Star Pipe (₦11 million), Taopex (₦83 million), and Trans-Amadi (OAU/FMPI) (₦20.74 million), all contributing to outstanding invoices from earlier periods.
Meanwhile, the report highlighted that Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, along with its host community, failed to make any payment towards their outstanding electricity bills. The company owes ₦1.27 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) company and an additional ₦0.11 billion to the Market Operator for the last quarter of 2024. This trend of non-payment by Ajaokuta Steel has persisted over time, and NERC stated that it has officially notified the Federal Government about the need for urgent intervention.
Additionally, the report shed light on the revenue performance of Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos). In the fourth quarter of 2024, DisCos generated ₦509.84 billion in revenue. This represents 77.44 per cent of the ₦658.40 billion billed to customers during the period. Comparatively, in the third quarter of 2024, total revenue collected by DisCos was ₦466.69 billion out of a total bill of ₦626.02 billion, translating to a collection efficiency of 74.55 per cent.
The report emphasized that the 77.44 per cent collection efficiency recorded in the fourth quarter was a 2.89 percentage point increase from the third quarter’s performance. NERC noted that improving revenue collection remains a key priority to ensure the sustainability of the power sector.
The findings from this report underscore the financial challenges facing Nigeria’s electricity market, particularly in recovering payments from international customers and large domestic defaulters. Stakeholders are calling for stricter enforcement of payment policies to prevent mounting debts and ensure a stable power supply for the country.
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