The authorities of BEDC Electricity Plc (BEDC), has urged consumers in its four franchise states to continue paying electricity bills as the power company is not offering free power supply to anybody.
The four franchise states are Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti.
Adekunle Tayo, Head, Corporate Affairs, BEDC Electricity Plc made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City.
Tayo said the proposed free electricity supply to all Nigerians for two months to make life easier during the Coronavirus (CIVID-19) lock down was yet to be implemented and as such customers should continue to pay their bills.
He said the statement was in reaction to news making the round that some customers in parts of its franchise states were engaging the services of electricians to reconnect after being disconnected for non-payment of electricity bills on the excuse that Federal Government has promised free
electricity.
According to him, “no decision has been taken by the federal government on the proposal, while nobody is sure of the date of implementation, electricity supply to customers presently is not free.
“Prepaid customers need to vend energy token to avoid service disruption when they run out of energy units, while postpaid customers need to settle outstanding bills to avoid disconnection.
“This is so because if the free electricity palliative measure was approved, it would not cover the past bills”,he said.
He however, advised electricity consumers to manage their energy consumption at this critical period to avoid accumulating huge bills that may be difficult to pay if the measure is eventually not approved.
He noted that in the last month residential customers consumed
the largest chunk of electricity supply to BEDC from the national grid, from total supply average.
He also noted that the residential customers benefited the most as the lockdown prevented commercial and industrial customers from opening shop as their consumption was
diverted to households across the franchise areas.
Tayo added that the management of BEDC completely aligns with the plans to ensure palliative measures including free electricity supply to all Nigerians for two months to make life easier, during the lockdown period due to the Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.
He opined that it was in view of the need to ease the hardship that the management of BEDC increased significantly power availability to several customers in some locations across its franchise states as well as suspended the rotational load management schedule for power supply.
He however, assured customers that BEDC shall continue to provide quality service across its touch points and improve availability of electricity supply to alleviate the hardship faced by customers during the coronavirus pandemic period.
The BEDC image maker also appealed to customers to continue to pay their bills as the status quo remains pending further directive on the proposed free electricity proposal.
He further enjoined customers to pay their bills, noting that anybody caught in the act of illegal reconnection will be arrested and prosecuted in line with existing electricity regulations.
