- International customers remitted only 27.57% of their $17.48 million Q1 2026 power bills, leaving an outstanding debt of $12.66 million (N17.45 billion).
- Paras-SBEE (Benin), Paras-CEET (Togo), and Odukpani-CEET (Togo) recorded zero percent remittance performance, failing to pay any portion of their invoices.
- Domestic bilateral customers significantly outperformed international buyers, paying N5.82 billion out of N6.12 billion to record a 95% compliance rate.
The international power supply agreements between Nigeria and its West African neighbors have once again come under intense scrutiny following the release of the latest quarterly report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the data highlights a widening liquidity crisis within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, revealing that international bilateral customers, specifically Benin, Togo, and the Niger Republic, owed Nigeria a staggering N17.45bn ($12.66m) for electricity supplied in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
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According to the NERC report, the Market Operator issued a total invoice of $17.48m to these neighboring countries during the three-month period. However, the international buyers collectively remitted just $4.82m, translating to a poor remittance performance of 27.57 per cent.
This massive shortfall contrasts sharply with the performance of Nigeria’s domestic bilateral electricity customers, who demonstrated a strong financial commitment by paying N5.82bn out of their N6.12bn invoice, achieving a 95 per cent remittance rate.
A detailed breakdown of the international payment performance exposes severe default rates among individual power utilities. Paras-SBEE, which handles electricity supplies to the Benin Republic, failed to make any payment against its $1.94m invoice, recording a zero per cent remittance performance.
Similarly, Paras-CEET, a bilateral customer supplying Togo, also registered a zero per cent remittance record, ignoring its invoice of $1.67m. Odukpani-CEET, another supplier delivering power to Togo, further compounded the issue by failing to remit any portion of its $2.29m bill.
Partial payments were recorded from other suppliers, though they remained significantly below the invoiced values. Transcorp-SBEE (Ughelli), supplying the Benin Republic, remitted only $0.90m out of a $4.20m invoice, representing a 21.43 per cent payment performance.
Meanwhile, Transcorp-SBEE (Afam 3) managed a 38.97 per cent performance, paying $1.13m against an invoice of $2.90m. Mainstream-NIGELEC, which exports power to the Niger Republic, emerged as the most compliant international customer during the quarter, remitting $2.79m out of its $4.45m invoice to hit a payment performance of 62.70 per cent.
Despite the weak performance on current invoices, NERC noted that some international customers made efforts to offset historic debts accumulated from previous quarters.
During the first quarter of 2026, the Market Operator received a total historical debt recovery of $6.64m from three international entities.
This included $4.05m from Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (comprising $3.28m for Ughelli and $0.77m for Paras), $1.87m from Mainstream-Société Nigérienne d’Électricité (NIGELEC), and $0.72m from Paras-Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET).
While domestic commercial customers showed high compliance, the domestic sector is not entirely free from chronic non-payment issues. The NERC report highlighted that Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, along with its host community, maintained its historical trend of absolute default.
The special customer failed to make any payment against the N676.88m invoice issued by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the N189.38m invoice issued by the Market Operator for the first quarter of 2026.
The recurrent failure of international customers to settle their energy bills promptly continues to place a heavy financial burden on the Nigerian grid, exacerbating the liquidity challenges faced by local generation companies and hindering broader infrastructural growth within the nation’s power sector.
