The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that Togo, the Republic of Benin and Niger Republic failed to pay $12.66 million of their electricity bills in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the Commission’s 2026 First Quarter Report, the three neighbouring countries paid only $4.82 million out of the $17.48 million invoiced by the Market Operator (MO) for electricity supplied by Nigeria’s Generation Companies (GenCos), representing a remittance performance of 27.57 per cent.
NERC stated that the international bilateral customers were supplied electricity through the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), but their payments fell significantly short of the amount due during the period under review.
In contrast, domestic bilateral customers recorded stronger payment performance, remitting ₦5.82 billion out of the ₦6.12 billion invoiced, representing a 95 per cent remittance rate.
The report also revealed that three international and nine domestic bilateral customers paid outstanding debts from previous quarters amounting to $6.64 million and ₦2.59 billion, respectively.
Providing a breakdown of the international payments, NERC said Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) paid $4.05 million, comprising $3.28 million for Ughelli and $770,000 for Paras. Mainstream–Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (NIGELEC) remitted $1.87 million, while Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) paid $720,000.
The Commission further disclosed that Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and its host community, classified as special customers, failed to pay their invoices of ₦676.88 million issued by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and ₦189.38 million issued by the Market Operator during the quarter.
NERC noted that the non-payment by Ajaokuta Steel remains a longstanding issue and said it has continued to engage relevant Federal Government authorities for intervention.
The report also showed that electricity distribution companies (DisCos) collected ₦597.56 billion from customers in the first quarter of 2026 out of the ₦756.93 billion billed, resulting in a collection efficiency of 78.95 per cent.
This represents a slight decline from the fourth quarter of 2025, when DisCos collected ₦630.93 billion from ₦795.06 billion billed, translating to a collection efficiency of 79.36 per cent.
On electricity subsidies, NERC said the Federal Government incurred a subsidy obligation of ₦358.32 billion in Q1 2026 due to the continued absence of cost-reflective tariffs across all DisCos.
The Commission noted that the subsidy figure represents a reduction of ₦60.46 billion, or 14.44 per cent, compared to the ₦418.79 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.
According to NERC, the government subsidy accounted for 51.95 per cent of the total invoices issued to GenCos during the quarter, compared to 52.03 per cent in the preceding quarter. The Commission attributed the decline in subsidy obligations to an 8.56 per cent reduction in electricity offtake by DisCos between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.