Togo, Benin Owe Nigeria $5.79m Electricity Debt in Q2 – NERC Reports

International bilateral electricity customers in the Benin Republic and Togo accumulated a huge debt to Nigeria, amounting to $5.79 million in the second quarter of 2024.

This information was disclosed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in their latest report for the period. The total invoice issued by the market operator between April and June 2024 was $15.60 million, out of which only $9.81 million was remitted by these international customers.

The foreign companies involved in off-taking power from Nigeria include Para-SBEE in the Benin Republic, which was billed $4.29 million but remitted 71.21% of this amount, and Transcorp-SBEE, also in Benin, which successfully remitted 100% of its $4.25 million bill. In Togo, Mainstream-NIGELEC was billed $3.59 million and paid 69.72% of it, while Odukpani-CEET did not remit any payment during this period.

The report further highlighted that in the first quarter of 2024, none of the four international bilateral customers made payments against the cumulative invoice of $14.19 million issued by the market operator. However, by the second quarter, some bilateral customers, both domestic and international, had begun making payments for outstanding invoices from previous quarters.

Cumulatively, these international bilateral customers paid a total of $16.65 million, with Transcorp-SBEE and Mainstream-NIGELEC making payments towards all outstanding invoices from prior periods.

The NERC's report also noted that the domestic bilateral customers made a payment of N1.30 billion against the cumulative invoice of N1.99 billion issued to them, translating to a remittance performance of 65.07%. Overall, the remittance performance for the international bilateral customers stood at 62.88% for the second quarter of 2024.