By Emma Okonji
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Plc (EEDC) has said it will commence the implementation of the new service reflective electricity tariff effectively from July 1, 2020.
The Head of Corporate Communications of EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, who made the disclosure in a statement, said the new tariff became necessary to improve the efficiency of EEDC in delivering quality service to its customers, and to equally ensure the sustenance of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in view of the prevailing economic realities, such as the high rate of inflation and the depreciation of naira, which have largely impacted the foreign exchange rate.
According to him, “This development is consistent with the feedback received from customers during the various stakeholders’ consultations for extraordinary tariff review application held in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States in February and March this year.
“The new tariff, which is service reflective, is designed to ensure that the company delivers improved services to customers, while ensuring that they are billed based on service quality.
“It is expected that the implementation of the new tariff will enable EEDC execute most of the capital-intensive projects already outlined, which are geared towards strengthening and expanding its network and delivering the expected quality service to its customers.”
The new regime has given rise to changes in customer class categorisation, as they are now represented in clusters, namely: NonMD, MD1 and MD2.
In the same vein, five distinctive bands (A-E) have been created to reflect the various service level and minimum hours of availability, a situation where a blanket/uniformed tariff no longer applies to all category of customers.
Ezeh said customers in ‘band A’ were expected to enjoy supply for minimum of 20 hours and above; those in ‘band B’ were expected to enjoy supply for minimum of 16 hours and above; those in ‘band C’ were expected to enjoy supply for minimum of 12 hours and above; those customers in ‘band D’ were expected to enjoy supply for minimum of eight hours and above, while those in ‘band E’ would enjoy supply for minimum of four hours.
According to the statement, “As a result of these changes and the service reflective nature of the new tariff, customers who enjoy premium services are expected to pay higher tariff based on their guaranteed hours of availability and service quality, while there won’t be any tariff increase for those customers that have low level of supply and lower service quality.”
He, therefore, solicited the support of all EEDC customers, while assuring them of unrelenting commitment to consistently improve the quality of electricity supply.
