We consider the problem of minimizing the energy of $N$ points repelling each other on curves in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with the potential $|x-y|^{-s}$, $s\geq 1$, where $|\, \cdot\, |$ is the Euclidean norm. For a sufficiently smooth, simple, closed, regular curve, we find the next order term in the asymptotics of the minimal $s$-energy. On our way, we also prove that at least for $s\geq 2$, the minimal pairwise distance in optimal configurations asymptotically equals $L/N$, $N\to\infty$, where $L$ is the length of the curve.