The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that Benin and Togo owe Nigeria over $11 million for electricity supplied to them in the first quarter of 2025.
According to NERC’s report, both countries paid only a small portion of what they were billed. Togo’s electricity company, CEET, failed to make any payments during the period, despite having two supply agreements with Odukpani and Paras Energy. Similarly, Benin’s SBEE only made part payments under its contracts with Transcorp and Paras.
Some of the specific payment shortfalls include PARAS-CEET paying just $0.63 million out of $1.92 million, TRANSCORP-SBEE (Afam 3) paying $0.3 million out of $1.73 million, and TRANSCORP-SBEE (Ughelli) paying $1.82 million out of $4.97 million. No payments were received at all for ODUKPANI-CEET and PARAS-SBEE deals.
In total, $17.24 million was invoiced to six international bilateral customers, but only $5.8 million was remitted showing a low compliance rate of 33.7%. Niger Republic’s utility company NIGELEC was the only one to settle its $3.03 million bill in full.
NERC warned that these repeated failures to pay could destabilize Nigeria’s electricity sector and jeopardize cross-border power trade.
Domestically, payment performance was slightly better, but there were still issues. Some companies paid in full like MSTM/Inner Galaxy, while others defaulted or made partial payments. Firms such as NDPHC/SUNFLAG, Sapele/Phoenix, and TAOPEX/Kam Steel failed to pay large sums, while others made only part payments on their invoices.
Ajaokuta Steel Company also came under scrutiny for failing to make any payment on bills totaling more than ₦1.5 billion, continuing a trend of long-standing debt.
NERC raised concerns that both foreign and local defaults could threaten the financial sustainability of Nigeria’s electricity industry if not addressed.
