Foreign Customers Pay $8.67m Of $18.84m Power Bill In Q2

Three international customers in the Nigerian power sector paid $8.67 million of the $18.84 million invoiced to them in the second quarter of 2026, a remittance rate of 46.02 per cent, data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) have shown.

The Commission’s second-quarter 2026 report indicated that the invoices were issued by the Market Operator for services rendered to customers who buy power from grid-connected generation companies.

The countries Benin, Nigeria, and Togo bought electricity from the following companies: Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) in the Benin Republic, Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET), and Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (NIGELEC) in the Nigeria Republic.

According to the report, about $10.17 million in the quarter’s invoices went unpaid.

NIGELEC, supplied through Mainstream, paid its entire $5.79 million invoice, the only international account to do so, while SBEE’s account with Paras was invoiced $2.46 million and paid $1.73 million (70.33 per cent). CEET’s account with Paras was invoiced $1.68 million and paid $1.15 million (68.45 per cent).

Three accounts made no payment for the quarter. They are SBEE’s accounts with Transcorp for Ughelli ($2.67 million) and Afam 3 ($4.38 million), and CEET’s account with Odukpani ($1.86 million). Together they accounted for $8.91 million of the unpaid amount.

The monthly figures showed a drop in June. Customers paid $3.32 million of $6.63 million invoiced in April and $3.37 million of $6.84 million in May. In June, they paid $1.98 million of $5.37 million.

Arrears from the first quarter

The report notes that the three customers paid $10.33 million in the quarter towards outstanding Market Operator invoices from the first quarter. SBEE paid $7.01 million, comprising $3.30 million for Ughelli, $1.94 million for Paras, and $1.77 million for Afam 3. CEET paid $1.67 million and NIGELEC $1.65 million.

Domestic bilateral customers paid N6,912.92 million of the N7,551.70 million invoiced, a remittance rate of 91.54 per cent.

The special customer, Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and its host community, paid nothing on invoices of N1,182.71 million from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and N171.04 million from the Market Operator. NERC described the non-payment as a longstanding trend and said it has told the relevant federal government authorities that intervention is needed.