Nigeria earned less than a third of the electricity revenue due from neighbouring countries in the first quarter of 2026, as Togo, the Republic of Benin and Niger Republic failed to settle $12.66 million of their combined electricity bills, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
In its latest quarterly report, the commission said the three countries were billed a total of $17.48 million for electricity supplied by Nigerian Generation Companies (GenCos) between January and March 2026. However, they remitted only $4.82 million, representing a remittance performance of 27.57 per cent.
The report showed that the Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) accounted for the largest payment, remitting $4.05 million for electricity supplied by the Ughelli and Paras power plants. Niger Republic’s NIGELEC paid $1.87 million, while Togo’s Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) remitted $720,000. NERC also disclosed that the three international customers later paid an additional $6.64 million to offset outstanding invoices from previous quarters.
While international remittances remained weak, domestic bilateral customers recorded significantly stronger payment performance. Nine domestic customers paid ₦5.82 billion out of the ₦6.12 billion invoiced during the quarter, translating to a 95 per cent remittance rate.
They also settled an additional ₦2.59 billion in outstanding obligations from earlier billing cycles.
NERC further revealed that Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and its host community again failed to pay their electricity bills, leaving invoices worth ₦676.88 million owed to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and ₦189.38 million owed to the Market Operator unpaid. The commission described the development as part of a longstanding pattern of non-payment and said it had referred the matter to the Federal Government for intervention.
The report also highlighted broader challenges within Nigeria’s electricity market. Distribution companies (DisCos) collected ₦597.56 billion from customers out of ₦756.93 billion billed during the quarter, resulting in a collection efficiency of 78.95 per cent. This represented a slight decline from the 79.36 per cent recorded in the final quarter of 2025.
Despite a reduction in electricity consumption, the Federal Government still incurred a subsidy obligation of ₦358.32 billion because tariffs remain below cost-reflective levels. Although this marked a 14.44 per cent decline from the ₦418.79 billion recorded in the previous quarter, NERC said government subsidies still covered nearly 52 per cent of GenCos’ invoices, underscoring the continued financial strain facing Nigeria’s power sector.
