Togo Accounts for 95% of Nigeria’s N37bn Power Service Debt

Togo’s state electricity company, CEET, accounts for about 95 per cent of the $28.33m owed to Nigeria for electricity-related services between 2023 and 2025. The debt, valued at N37.44bn, is separate from payment for the electricity supplied to the two neighbouring countries.

The figure emerged from an analysis of annual reports published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for the three years. The reports show that the unpaid money relates to services used to transfer electricity from Nigerian generating plants to the state-owned utilities in Benin and Togo.

The charge belongs to the Market Operator (MO), the name used for the relevant function of the Transmission Company of Nigeria before its unbundling.

The figures show a major difference between the obligations of the two countries. Togo’s Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) owes $26.88m, compared with $1.47m owed by Benin’s Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE).

Niger’s Societe Nigerienne d’electricite (NIGELEC), Nigeria’s third international electricity customer, did not record an outstanding balance over the period.

Three-year bills reached $183.5m

The three foreign utilities received bills totalling $183.5m for the services between 2023 and 2025. They paid $155.17m, leaving $28.33m unpaid.

The yearly figures show that the outstanding balance was highest in 2024. The utilities were billed $53.55m in 2023 and paid $50.36m, leaving $3.19m unpaid.

In 2024, the bill rose to $56.04m, but payments stood at $42.06m. That left $13.98m unpaid for the year.

The service bill reached $73.91m in 2025. Payments totalled $62.75m, leaving an $11.16m balance.

CEET had the largest unpaid amount across the period. It was billed $50.38m but paid only $23.5m, leaving $26.88m outstanding.

SBEE was billed $46.18m and paid $44.71m. Its unpaid balance stood at $1.47m.

NIGELEC was charged $44.84m but paid $44.85m. Its payment was therefore $10,000 above its charges for the three-year period.

The figures suggest that NIGELEC’s extra payment may have settled an earlier debt incurred before 2023. The NERC figures themselves do not provide further details on that payment.

Service charge differs from power bill

Tobi Oluwatola, partner at AP3 Advisory Services and chief executive of TAO Technologies, said the $28.33m figure represents a residual service charge.

He explained that the charge covers regulated fees for the regulator, transmission company, bulk trader, market operator and system operator. He put the charge at about $20m per quarter.

Oluwatola said payment for the electricity itself is handled separately under guaranteed contracts covering energy and capacity for about 350 megawatts supplied to the foreign utilities.

“The number in the news is the small administrative slice of the trade, and it happens to be the one layer not yet fully behind a guarantee. The neighbours pay this slice to the generating companies, alongside their energy and capacity charge; it is the generating company that pays the market operator.”

He said the payment system for electricity supplied to international customers was settled through the Eligible Customer reforms of 2017 and the Willing Buyer, Willing Seller framework of 2019.

Under that system, cross-border and large industrial electricity supply was placed under direct bilateral contracts between neighbouring utilities and Nigerian Generating Companies, known as Gencos.

Oluwatola said customers must provide a letter of credit or bank guarantee to the market operator before receiving electricity under the arrangement.

He said the cross-border trade operates on surplus capacity and accounts for less than 10 per cent of electricity on Nigeria’s grid.