Togo, Benin Republic, Niger fail to pay $12.66m for Nigeria’s electricity in Q1 2026

• Fed Govt incurs ₦358.32b subsidy obligation

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said Togo, Republic of Benin and Niger Republic failed to pay $12.66 million electricity bill in the First Quarter of 2026 Q1 2026.
Of the $17.48million bill that was issued to them, the three international customers, remitted $4.84 million, being 27.57 per cent for the energy the electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) supplied them in the period under review.

This was made known in the 2026 Q1 Report the commission issued yesterday.
NERC said the “remittances made by bilateral customers (domestic and international) and special customers for invoices issued in 2026/Q1 by the MO: The three international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $4.82 million against the cumulative invoice of $17.48 million issued by the MO for services rendered in 2026/Q1, translating to a remittance performance of 27.57 per cent.”

According to the report, the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of ₦5,816.28 million against the invoice of ₦6,122.35 million issued to them the MO for services rendered in 2026/Q1, translating to 95.00 per cent remittance performance.

NERC added that during Q1 2026, three international and nine domestic bilateral customers made payments of $6.64 million and ₦2,589.07 million, respectively, towards outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters.

In the breakdown, the report said specifically, the MO received a total of $4.05 million from Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE), comprising payments for Ughelli ($3.28 million) and Paras ($0.77 million).

NERC also said $1.87 million was received from Mainstream – Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (NIGELEC), and $0.72 million from Paras – Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET).

According to the report, the special customer (Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and the host community) did not make any payment towards the ₦676.88 million (NBET) and ₦189.38 million (MO) invoices received in 2026/Q1.

NERC stressed that this continues a longstanding trend of non-payment by this customer, and the Commission has communicated the need for intervention on this issue to the relevant Federal Government authorities.

In the period under review, the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2026/Q1 was ₦597.56 billion out of the ₦756.93 billion that was billed to customers.

This, said the report, translates to a collection efficiency of 78.95 per cent.
In comparison, NERC stressed that the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2025/Q4 was ₦630.93 billion out of the ₦795.06 billion billed to customers, which translated to a 79.36 per cent collection efficiency. This means that at an aggregate level, DisCos recorded a 0.41pp decrease in collection efficiency between 2025/Q4 and 2026/Q1.

On subsidy, the report revealed that due to the absence of cost-reflective tariffs across all DisCos, the government incurred a subsidy obligation of ₦358.32 billion, this represents a ₦60.46 billion (-14.44 per cent) reduction in FGN subsidy compared to 2025/Q4 (₦418.79 billion).

The government subsidy, according to NERC, accounted for 51.95 per cent of the total GenCo invoice, which is a 0.08pp decrease compared to 2025/Q4, when the subsidy accounted for 52.03 per cent of the total GenCo invoice.

The report explained that “The key driver of this reduction in FGN subsidy obligation is the decrease in energy offtake of the DisCos by -8.56 per cent between 2025/Q4 and 2026/Q1.”