Nigeria’s power regulator has disclosed that Togo Niger and Benin owe the country over N25 billion for electricity supplied under cross border energy deals.
According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC the debts are tied to electricity delivered in the third quarter of 2025 as well as unpaid invoices from earlier periods. The breakdown shows that the three neighbouring countries were billed 18.69 million dollars for the quarter but paid only 7.125 million dollars leaving a shortfall of 11.56 million dollars.
Old invoices from previous quarters added another layer of debt. NERC said legacy bills worth 14.7 million dollars were issued while 7.84 million dollars was paid leaving 6.23 million dollars outstanding. In total the current and past debts add up to 17.8 million dollars which converts to roughly 25.36 billion naira using an exchange rate of 1,425 naira to the dollar.
The international customers involved are Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo Societe Beninoise dEnergie Electrique of Benin and Societe Nigerienne dElectricite of Niger. NERC explained that the power was generated by companies connected to the national grid and delivered through bilateral cross border agreements.
NERC also compared the performance of foreign buyers with local bilateral customers. Domestic buyers paid 3.19 billion naira out of 3.64 billion naira invoiced during the quarter achieving a payment rate of almost 88 percent. By contrast the three international buyers managed just 38 percent.
Meanwhile Nigerias eleven distribution companies paid 381.29 billion naira to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator during the same period out of a total bill of 400.48 billion naira. This represents a payment performance of just over 95 percent based on reconciled market records submitted to NERC in December 2025.
