The Management of BEDC Electricity Plc has commenced the implementation of a new service-based tariff structure effective from September 1st, 2020.
A statement issued by the company on Thursday said the new dispensation SBT contained in a Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission order signed by its Chairman, Prof James Momoh, was to provide incremental improvements in the quality and quantity of electricity supply.
The company said it was a leap into a regime where its customers across the franchise states of Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo would be migrated to a threshold where there would be continuous improvement in the quality of service delivery.
According to the BEDC management, the new SBT would allow customers enjoy a certain minimum of hours of power availability and also pay for appropriate rates for services rendered based on this availability.
The BEDC stated that it recognised that a firm improvement in electricity supply would require investments in reinforcing feeders, transformers, protection equipment, and other components.
“Hence, a service-based tariff shall provide a financial remedy to bolster improved service defined in terms of hours of supply indicated by availability, reliability, and quality whilst recognizing the changes in macroeconomic indices – forex, inflation, cost of capital, etc.,” the firm said.
To operationalise the new service dispensation, the company noted that customers would be disaggregated into various clusters/bands based on the guaranteed hours of service.
It added that it would use number of hours of daily availability as a measure to determine the tariff rates with those that get more power paying more than those that get less power.
“The new tariff regime also allows that customers can move to upper bands of more power availability as their quality of service improves and accordingly pay appropriate prices,” the BEDC said in the statement.