Togo, Benin Owe Nigeria $14 Million for Electricity – Nigerian Government

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that Togo and Benin Republic owe the country $14.19 million for electricity supplied during the first quarter of 2024. None of the four international bilateral customers who receive power from Nigeria made payments against the cumulative invoice issued by the Market Operator for services rendered during this period, according to a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The report identified the four customers as Para-SBEE in Benin Republic, which owes $3.15 million; Transcorp-SBEE in Benin Republic, owing $4.46 million; Mainstream-NIGELEC in Togo, which owes $1.21 million; and Odukpani-CEET in Togo, owing $5.36 million.

Additionally, the NERC noted that no payments were made by local bilateral customers against the N1.86 million invoiced to them by the Market Operator for services provided in the first quarter of 2024. However, some payments were received from both local and international customers for outstanding invoices from previous quarters. Specifically, $5.96 million was paid by two international customers, while eight local customers remitted N505.71 million toward debts incurred before 2024.

The NERC expressed concerns over what it described as “payment indiscipline” among local and international bilateral customers and urged the Market Operator, a division of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to enforce market rules to address the issue.

This announcement follows earlier reports in May revealing that international consumers failed to remit about $51.26 million to Nigeria for electricity supplied in 2023. The Federal Government’s data indicated that these consumers owed $16.11 million, $11.97 million, $11.16 million, and $12.02 million for electricity supplied in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively. Similarly, bilateral power consumers within Nigeria did not remit approximately N7.61 billion to the nation’s power sector in 2023.