Benin Disco Woos Customers with Discounts, Longer Repayment Period

Benin Electricity Distribution Company Plc (BEDC) has said it has developed a debt restructuring scheme for customers to enjoy discounts in a bid to address growing outstanding electricity consumption debts.

The company also announced an extension period of debt contract up to a maximum of 60 months, depending on customers’ debt profile in combination with the down payment.

BEDC said in a statement issued at the weekend that, “The Debt Rescheduling Scheme is in line with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Act which mandates that electricity operators recover costs on prudent investment to be able to provide quality services to customers.” The statement disclosed that the scheme has taken off across the franchise states of Delta, Edo, Ekiti and Ondo.

The scheme is designed in a customer-centric manner to encourage esteemed customers to minimize their debt repayment burden and to help them to gradually decrease accumulated debts, while providing increased quality in electricity supply in line with Service Reflective Tariff (SRT) Regulation.

BEDC explained that the scheme was introduced in order to help customers who were unable to settle electricity bills as and when due, due to the prevailing economic and financial difficulties. The scheme provides the opportunity to restructure the terms and conditions for them to be able to settle their outstanding bills over a period.

The key features of the scheme include debt rescheduling scheme that is applicable to debts that over N10,000, combines discount ranges from five percent to 25 percent, down payment of 25 percent and debt repayment periods from six months up to 60 months depending on customers’ profile (whether metered or estimated) as well as debt range and type of tariff band.

Others features are that customers could be offered an additional rebate of five percent in addition to the applicable discount, if the remaining outstanding amount is paid instantly and discounts are cancelled if customers fail to meet agreement at any time.

The statement added that, “For customers who have outstanding debts and do not pay as and when due disconnection of these parties will continue, unless they are part of the rescheduled agreement and are paying their debts on due dates.”