Togo and Benin Owe Nigeria $14 Million for Electricity – Federal Government

The Federal Government of Nigeria has disclosed that four international customers, receiving electricity from Nigerian power generation companies, failed to make payments amounting to $14.19 million for services rendered in the first quarter of 2024. This was revealed in a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The international customers in question include Para-SBEE in Benin Republic, which owes $3.15 million, Transcorp-SBEE in Benin with an outstanding balance of $4.46 million, Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo, owing $1.21 million, and Odukpani-CEET in Togo, which has an unpaid invoice of $5.36 million. Additionally, NERC reported that within Nigeria, no payments were made by local bilateral customers against a cumulative invoice of N1.86 million for services provided during the same period. However, the report noted that some payments were made by both local and international customers to settle outstanding invoices from previous quarters. Specifically, two international customers remitted a total of $5.96 million, while eight local bilateral customers paid N505.71 million towards debts incurred before the first quarter of 2024.

The commission emphasized the need for the Market Operator to enforce the market rules to address what it described as "payment indiscipline" among both local and international customers. This issue of non-remittance has been a persistent problem, as earlier reports indicated that international customers failed to remit about $51.26 million to Nigeria for electricity supplied in 2023. In 2023 alone, the bilateral power consumers also failed to remit approximately N7.61 billion to Nigeria's power sector, a situation that NERC has strongly condemned. According to government data, international consumers defaulted on payments amounting to $16.11 million, $11.97 million, $11.16 million, and $12.02 million in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively.

As the payment indiscipline continues, the Federal Government is urging the Market Operator, a branch of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) responsible for power exports, to take decisive action to ensure that Nigeria receives the payments due for its electricity supply.