The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, (PHED) has said that come 1st February, 2016 customers would pay a new tariff while fixed charges will be not be in operational.
The Chief Executive Officer, PHED, Mr. Jay McCoskey stated this in a press briefing with journalists in Port Harcourt over the weekend.
He said the new tariff is only about 12% increase which will improve on energy sufficiency and constant power supply to the customers.
Speaking further, Mr. McCoskey stated that the company will intensify its mass metering program where customers will pay for only what they consume and nothing more saying the era of corruption in the company is over as any corrupt staff and those stealing power will be jailed.
In her remark, the Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer, PHED Ms. Naney Abdala stated that the new electricity tariff addresses issues raised by customers on fixed charges, high electricity bill and meter provision.
She explained that with the removal of fixed charges customers will now determine what they will pay by what thy consume.
Ms Abdala stated that the new price chart approved by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), single phase residential customers would now pay N24, 91 per unit without any fixed charges against the former which was N700 fixed charge and N15.Oa per unit saying there are different price for residential, commercial, industrial and special areas.
According to her, the new tariff is actually not what is required to meet the market cost today as it is based on a 10-year plan in which certain cost of service will not be recovered today but at a later time.
Ms Abdala maintained that the new tariff has a lot of consideration made by NERC in arriving at which include foreign exchange rate, price of gas, rate of inflation and generation and transmission cost.
The company explained that customers should not panic as the new price is just a little increase which is cheaper like a bottle of coke, water or bread saying the ultimate aim is to improve in the electricity supply that very soon the country will experience constant power supply.
According to the company, if the customers refused to pay their bill they cannot buy gas from the gas company and pay for other essential materials while appealing for a better understanding for quality improvement.
During the interactive session the company told journalist that right now just a phone call will help the customer is case of any difficulty. ###
Pius Dukor
