BEVERLY HILLS, January 29, (THEWILL) – The PortHarcourt Distribution Company (PHED) has stated that with the removal of fixed charge in monthly electricity bills, consumers are now the ones to determine their bills in a new tariff which comes into effect on Monday, February 1, 2016.
According to Jay McCoskey, the new CEO of PHED, who replaced Jon Abbas, in a quarterly pre-briefing in Port Harcourt with newsmen, better services would be the hallmark of the new electricity regime.
McCoskey said the increase in what people paid before and now would be not more than 35 percent, saying the Discos would also introduce energy efficient solutions such as special light bulbs into the market to help users manage their consumption.
“With the introduction of these energy efficient appliances, customers’ actual consumption would be the determining factor on the bills that they pay,” he said.
He noted that this was the reason why PHED would intensify its mass metering programme, as studies had shown that with pre-paid meters, electricity users consume between 12-15 percent less than those using post-paid meters.
Also speaking at the event, Nancy Abdala, chief legal and regulatory officer, PHED, said the new electricity tariff addresses issues usually raised by customers on fixed charges, high electricity bills and meter provision.
According to Abdala, with the removal by the regulatory body of fixed charges, the new tariff includes all costs, so customers only pay this new tariff per unit consumed, meaning that a consumer would be the one to determine his consumption.
Under the new tariff approved by Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) single-phase residential customers would now pay N24.91 per unit with no fixed charge, as against N15.09 per unit.
Rural customers (those who consume less than 50Kw/h every month) also known as R1, have their tariff unchanged at N4.00. In addition, commercial customers classified as C1, C2 and C3, would now pay an all-inclusive charge of N35.88, N43.72 and N44.30; while industrial customers classified as D1, D2 and D3 pay an all-inclusive charge of 36.19, 44.01 and 44.59 per unit.
Story by David Oputah
