The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reported that three international customers owe Nigeria $17.8 million (over N25 billion) for electricity supplied under bilateral agreements.
According to NERC’s Third Quarter 2025 report, Togo, Niger, and Benin were invoiced a total of $18.69 million by the Market Operator for electricity provided during the period.
The regulator noted that the three countries had only paid $7.125 million, leaving an unpaid balance of $11.56 million.
NERC explained that the cumulative payment of $7.125 million reflected the purchasing power of these international bilateral customers from the grid-connected GenCos for services rendered in Q3 2025.
It added that this payment represented a remittance performance of just 38.09%, with over half of the invoices remaining unsettled by the end of the quarter.
“The three international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $7.12m against the cumulative invoice of $18.69m issued by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to a remittance performance of 38.09 per cent.”
The commission further noted that some bilateral customers also made payments for electricity purchased in previous quarters.
“It is noteworthy that some bilateral customers also made payments for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters, as follows: the MO received $7.84m from the international bilateral customers and N1.3bn from the domestic bilateral customers.’’
Domestic bilateral customers, in contrast, performed significantly better, paying N3.19 billion out of the N3.64 billion invoiced during the quarter, achieving a remittance rate of 87.61%.
“The domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N3.19 billion against the invoice of N3.64bn issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2025/Q3, translating to 87.61 per cent remittance performance,” the report added.
The regulator also revealed that Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies collectively remitted N381.29 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator in Q3 2025, from a total invoice of N400.48 billion, corresponding to a remittance rate of 95.21%.
NERC emphasized that these figures are based on reconciled market settlements submitted to the commission as of December 18, 2025, as part of its statutory review of the electricity market’s commercial performance.
