By Ebi Kesiena
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed that Benin Republic and Togo owe Nigeria $8.84 million for electricity consumed in the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to NERC’s latest report on remittances by bilateral and special customers, six international customers receiving power from Nigerian generation companies (GenCos) collectively paid $5.21 million out of a total invoice of $14.05 million issued by the Market Operator for Q4 2024, reflecting a remittance performance of 37.08%.
A breakdown of payments showed that Paras-SBEE in Benin Republic paid $2.65 million, while Paras-CEET, also in Benin, paid $1.64 million. Transcorp-SBEE (Ughelli) in Benin settled $1.71 million of its $3.59 million bill, while Transcorp-SBEE (Afam 3) cleared $0.90 million out of a $1.2 million invoice. However, Odukpani-CEET in Togo remains indebted by $2.37 million. The only international customer to fully clear its invoice was Mainstream-NIGELEC, which paid $2.60 million.
Domestically, bilateral customers in Nigeria remitted ₦1.25 million out of the ₦1.98 million invoiced for Q4 2024, translating to a 63.36% remittance rate. The report also noted that some international customers, including Paras-CEET, Paras-SBEE, and Transcorp-SBEE, made additional payments of $0.98 million, $0.7 million, and $1.3 million, respectively, to clear outstanding debts from previous quarters.
Similarly, domestic customers, including NDPHC-Weewood, North South/Star Pipe, Taopex, and Trans-Amadi (OAU/FMPI), collectively paid ₦135.81 million toward overdue invoices.
Meanwhile, NERC reported that Ajaokuta Steel Company and its host community failed to make any payments toward their ₦1.27 billion (NBET) and ₦0.11 billion (MO) invoices for Q4 2024, continuing a longstanding trend of non-payment. The commission has called on the federal government for urgent intervention.
Additionally, NERC revealed that electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria generated ₦509.84 billion in revenue in Q4 2024, representing 77.44% of the ₦658.40 billion billed to customers. This marks an improvement from the 74.55% collection efficiency recorded in the previous quarter when DisCos collected ₦466.69 billion out of ₦626.02 billion billed.
