The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has released its Q3 2025 Electricity Industry Report, revealing continuing challenges in payment and remittance performance across the power sector’s market participants. The data highlights significant disparities in payment collections between international and domestic bilateral customers of electricity generation companies (GenCos), underscoring liquidity strains that threaten the financial viability of the electricity value chain.
According to the report, electricity generation companies received a total of $7.12 million from international bilateral customers and N3.19 billion from domestic bilateral customers during the third quarter of 2025. These figures represent the actual payments received against the amounts invoiced for services rendered in the period.
NERC’s Q3 2025 findings show that international bilateral customers paid only $7.12 million out of a cumulative invoice of $18.69 million issued by the Market Operator (MO). This equates to a remittance rate of just 38.09%, revealing a deep gap between invoiced amounts and actual payments from international buyers of Nigerian electricity.
In sharp contrast, domestic bilateral customers performed relatively well, remitting N3.19 billion against a total invoice of N3.64 billion, resulting in an 87.61% remittance rate. While this suggests stronger compliance by local counterparties compared to their international peers, it still leaves a shortfall that impacts overall sector cash flows.
The detailed breakdown of international payments showed mixed results among individual buyers. For example, Transcorp–SBEE (Ughelli) remitted $1.42 million, while Mainstream–NIGELEC accounted for $5.70 million of the international payments. These remittances helped lift the overall collection figures, but they were still far below the amounts invoiced for power supplied.
NERC also noted that the Market Operator received arrears payments from some bilateral customers for outstanding invoices from previous quarters, including $7.84 million from international bilateral customers and N1,299.66 million from domestic bilateral customers. While such arrears payments help reduce past dues, they also reflect the persistent issue of delayed settlements within the market.
However, not all customers contributed to improved remittance performance. “Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and its host community failed to make any payment toward invoices issued in Q3 2025,” according to the NERC report, leaving a combined indebtedness of N1.03 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and N0.10 billion to the Market Operator. NERC characterized this as part of a longstanding trend of non-payment that now requires intervention by relevant federal government authorities.
These payment shortfalls have broader implications for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). NERC emphasized that poor remittance performance weakens liquidity, constrains power generation, and threatens the financial viability of GenCos and other market participants, issues that can ultimately affect electricity availability and reliability for consumers.
The commission has consistently flagged remittance challenges as a structural issue within Nigeria’s power sector, as seen in previous quarters as well, where international and domestic remittances fell short of invoiced amounts, contributing to ongoing market liquidity pressures.
Low remittances compound broader fiscal challenges in Nigeria’s economy by undermining utility cash flows and investor confidence, while the government continues to subsidize tariffs. Weak collections reduce revenue for power producers, constraining investment, dampening growth in the energy sector, and adding stress to public finances already grappling with inflation and currency volatility.
