The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Electricity Plc has said it will commence a new service reflective tariff structure effective from 1st of July 2020 as part of an effort to ensure improved service to customers.
The introduction of the new tariff is based on the feedback from customer consultations conducted earlier in the year on proposed tariff review, BEDC said in a statement by the management at the weekend in Benin, the Edo State capital.
The BEDC management, in the statement, assured customers of appropriate rates for services rendered in a service reflective tariff regime that will guarantee power availability to end-users for a stated minimum of hours.
“Under this new tariff structure, customers are to be disaggregated into various tariff bands based on this guaranteed hours of service with those with more power paying more than those with less power. The new tariff regime also provides that customers can move to upper bands of more power availability as their quality of service improves,” the statement added.
“To operationalise the new service dispensation, and subject to the finalisation of the process with the regulators, customers will be separated into various clusters using number of hours of daily availability as a measure to determine the tariff rates.
“The existing operating method of Load Management Schedule shall be rearranged to take cognizance of this new Service Based Tariff structure as we seek to match service delivery with appropriate tariff and payment of bills,” BEDC management said.
The company noted that a “service reflective tariff shall provide a financial remedy to bolster improved service defined in terms of hours of supply indicated by availability, reliability and quality whilst recognising the changes in macroeconomic indices – forex, inflation and cost of capital, among others.”
The company explained that it is adopting the new tariff regime because it recognises that a firm improvement in electricity supply would require investments in reinforcing feeders, transformers, protection equipment and other components.
BEDC reiterated its commitment to the implementation of new performance improvement plans to ensure rapid improvement in service quality for customers who currently receive low service and subsequently graduate them to appropriate tariff upon service improvement.
The company disclosed that it will strengthen its customer care centers to improve responses to customers’ complaints while the acceleration of metering by Meter Asset Providers (MAP) will be a cardinal objective.
