Togo, Niger, Benin behind on electricity payments to Nigeria
Three West African countries, Togo, Niger, and Benin, owe Nigeria over N25bn for electricity supplied under bilateral agreements, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The commission's Third Quarter 2025 report revealed significant outstanding payments from these nations for power provided by Nigerian generation companies. The report also compared the remittance performance of international and domestic customers. The commission highlighted ongoing challenges with cross-border electricity payments.
TLDR
- Togo, Niger, and Benin were invoiced $18.69m for electricity in 2025/Q3 but paid only $7.125m, leaving $11.56m unpaid.
- Legacy invoices from previous quarters totaled $14.7m, with $7.84m paid and $6.23m outstanding.
- The total debt from previous quarters and Q3 2025 is $17.8m, equivalent to N25.36bn at an exchange rate of N1,425 to a dollar.
- Domestic bilateral customers paid N3.19bn out of N3.64bn invoiced in 2025/Q3, achieving an 87.61% remittance rate.
- Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies remitted N381.29bn out of N400.48bn invoiced in Q3 2025, a 95.21% remittance performance, based on reconciled settlements as of December 18, 2025.
