Dangote Cement Plc and BUA Cement Plc spent a mixed N797.1 billion on energy in the primary 9 months of 2026.
The determine comes from their unaudited monetary statements for the interval ended September 30, 2026.
Dangote Cement reported group gas and energy prices of N580.5 billion, up 2.0% from N569.0 billion a 12 months earlier.
BUA Cement’s energy consumption rose 21.5% to N216.6 billion, from N178.2 billion. The mixed invoice is 6.7% greater than the N747.2 billion the 2 spent in the identical interval of 2025.
Energy cost, for a cement maker, covers two issues. The first is the gas burned to warmth kilns to over 1,400°C to make clinker: fuel, coal, low-pour gas oil and, more and more, waste-derived various fuels. The second is the electrical energy that drives crushers, mills and packing crops, which Nigeria’s massive cement producers generate largely in their very own energy crops moderately than purchase from the grid.
HBM Nigeria Plc, previously Lafarge Africa, reported manufacturing variable prices of N226.3 billion, up 4.2%. The firm doesn’t separate energy from different inputs: the determine bundles gas, energy, uncooked supplies and consumables. It additionally books some electrical energy prices beneath manufacturing mounted prices, alongside personnel bills.
Money the grid is leaving on the desk
The measurement of the cement makers’ energy invoice reveals how a lot spending sits exterior Nigeria’s electrical energy market due to the grid’s unreliability.
Not all of it may go to the grid. Kiln gas is a direct enter the grid can’t exchange, however the electrical energy element, generated in personal crops on the firms’ personal cost, is demand that dependable grid provide may seize.
- Nigeria’s three largest cement makers generate their very own energy. Dangote Cement has at the very least 345MW of captive capability at its 4 Nigerian crops: Obajana in Kogi State (135MW), Ibese in Ogun State (about 111MW), Okpella in Edo State (60MW) and Gboko in Benue State (about 38.5MW). The crops can run on fuel, coal or gas oil.
- BUA Cement has an estimated 240MW to 280MW, principally gas-fired. Its Sokoto plant runs 120MW of Wärtsilä engines on liquefied pure fuel, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission granted it an extra 12MW allow for the positioning in the primary half of 2026.
- Its Obu plant in Edo State has a 70MW fuel plant serving its third line, alongside older generators. BUA doesn’t publish a consolidated determine.
Together, the 2 firms have roughly 585MW to 625MW of nameplate capability in Nigeria. HBM Nigeria provides at the very least 200MW at its Ewekoro and Mfamosing crops, taking the large three previous 800MW.
- Dangote Cement additionally generates energy exterior Nigeria. Verified crops embody a 45MW gas-fired station at its Mtwara plant in Tanzania and a 30MW coal-fired unit at Ndola in Zambia. Capacity at its operations in Senegal, Ethiopia, Congo and South Africa shouldn’t be publicly disclosed.
For context, common obtainable capability on the nationwide grid was 4,457.96MW in the primary quarter of 2026, in keeping with NERC. That places Dangote Cement and BUA’s Nigerian captive capability at about 13% to 14% of what the grid had obtainable.
What DisCos earned
Nigeria’s 11 electrical energy distribution firms (DisCos) billed prospects about N2.01 trillion between January and August 2026 and picked up about N1.63 trillion, a set price of roughly 81%. The totals are drawn from NERC’s quarterly stories for Q1 and Q2 and its month-to-month factsheets for July and August.
On a like-for-like foundation, Dangote Cement and BUA’s energy spend in the primary half of 2026 (N519.8 billion) was equal to 43% of every part the DisCos collected in the identical interval (N1.20 trillion).
- Dangote Cement’s mum or dad firm spent N208.2 billion on gas and energy in H1 2026, near the N215.1 billion collected by Abuja DisCo, which serves its Obajana plant in Kogi State.
- BUA’s H1 energy invoice of N135.4 billion was about 4.4 instances the N30.9 billion collected by Kaduna Electric, the DisCo for its Sokoto plant.
It additionally exceeded the N99.9 billion collected by Benin DisCo, which covers each BUA’s Obu plant and Dangote’s Okpella plant.
A wider retreat from the grid
The hole widens as soon as different producers are counted. Companies and establishments holding NERC captive technology licences had about 6,500MW of capability, in keeping with NERC knowledge reported in January 2025, greater than the grid’s typical output.
Estimates of all privately owned generation, together with diesel and petrol mills, run from 15,000MW to twenty,000MW. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria says its members spent N1.34 trillion on various energy in 2025, up 21% from N1.11 trillion in 2024.
The exits proceed. NERC granted captive permits totalling 54.94MW between January and June 2026, with BUA Cement’s 12MW the most important single allow.
Grid failures and an election situation
The nationwide grid has failed at the very least thrice this 12 months. It collapsed on January 23, with technology falling to zero, and once more on January 27.
On October 19, a number of journeys on the 330kV community reduce provide from 3,647MW to 675MW inside an hour, an 81.5% drop, as 9 crops went offline.
Power has turn out to be a marketing campaign situation forward of the 2027 election. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, says President Bola Tinubu has failed his promise of regular electrical energy. He cites a 2022 marketing campaign comment: “If I don’t give you constant electricity for four years, when I come back for a second term, don’t vote for me.”
What you must know
Dangote Cement and BUA Cement earned mixed income of N4.86 trillion in the 9 months. Dangote’s income rose 19.6% to N3.77 trillion and BUA’s rose 26.5% to N1.09 trillion.
- Energy consumed 16.4% of mixed income, down from 18.6% a 12 months earlier, as cement costs rose sooner than gas prices.
- Dangote Cement’s energy fell to fifteen.4% of income from 18.0%. Management credit a greater energy combine, various fuels and gas-powered (CNG) vans for protecting gas and energy progress to 2.0% whereas volumes rose 9.4%. The group determine contains its operations in 9 different African nations. The Nigerian mum or dad firm’s gas and energy invoice rose 15.1% to N313.9 billion.
BUA Cement’s energy fell to 19.9% of income from 20.8% over 9 months, however rose sharply in the third quarter. Q3 energy prices rose 59.8% to N81.3 billion, lifting the energy share of income to 22.7% from 18.3%. Over the identical quarter, BUA’s supplies cost fell 68%, which can level to a reclassification between cost traces. The firm has not defined the motion.
