The Management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) on Wednesday said it had developed a debt restructuring scheme.
Under the scheme, customers’ debt repayment period would be extended to a maximum of 60 months depending on the debt profile in its franchise areas.
This is contained in a statement signed by the company’s Head of Public Affairs, Tayo Adekule, and made available to newsmen in Benin
Adekule said that the scheme was designed to woo customers and offer them various ranges of discounts and longer repayment periods of debts.
“The scheme was also designed to address the growing outstanding electricity consumption 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.
“This scheme has taken off across the franchise states of Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo.
“The scheme is designed in a customer-centric manner aiming to support esteemed customers to minimize debt repayment burden and to help them to gradually decrease accumulated debt,” he said.
Adekule explained that the debt rescheduling scheme was applicable to customers with over N10,000 debt with a combined discount ranging from five percent to 25 percent.
According to him, the repayment period is six months up to 60 months depending on customers’ profile whether metered or estimated, debt range, and tariff band.
“Customers could be offered an additional rebate of five percent in addition to the applicable discount if the remaining outstanding amount is paid instantly.
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“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,” he added.
He reiterated BEDC’s commitment to providing increased quality in electricity supply in line with Service Reflective Tariff (SRT) Regulation to its customers.
