The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), yesterday, said it had begun a new Service-Based Tariff (SBT) structure in retail distribution of electricity in Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo states, effective from September, to disaggregate its customers into five tariff bands, based on the available hours of electricity supply service.

According to BEDC, the new electricity tariff regime would allow customers to enjoy specific hours of power availability and pay specific rates for services rendered, based on various five bands of power availabilities.

BEDC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, disclosed this at a conference on the new SBT in Benin City.

Osibodu, represented by Executive Director, Commercial, BEDC, Mr. Abu Ejoor, said the new tariff was in line with the outcome of customers’ feedback from tariff review consultations, held by NERC and DisCos at various locations across the country in February and March 2020.

He said the feedback showed customers were willing to pay appropriate rates, if there was improved quality of service delivered, as some of them whose current service level deemed low, had difficulty rationalising any tariff increase.

He said: “Under the new service dispensation, customers have been disaggregated into various clusters/bands, based on hours of supply and using number of hours of daily availability, as a measure to determine the tariff rates as those with more power paying more than those with less power.”

Ejoor added that the new tariff regime would also enable customers to move to upper bands of more power availability, as their quality of service improves, and accordingly, pay the appropriate tariff.