The Billing and Revenue Protection Officer of the Northern Electricity Development Company, NEDCO, in the Upper East Region, Ing. William Asare, has indicated that majority of NEDCO’s clientele base are lifeline consumers.
He disclosed that 56.22% of NEDCO customers form the lifeline consumer base. These are consumers who consume between 0 and 30 kilowatts of electricity every month hence, will not be affected by the increment.
“Majority of our customers are within that bracket (lifeline) in the Upper East. We operate within a rural environment. The urban population is not as much as the rural customers that we have. So if you look at our spread, majority of our customers are within the 0 to 30 consumption bracket”.
He added, “In January this year, we had about 56.22 percent of our customers within the 0 to 30 kilowatt bracket, lifeline category of customers”.
It would be recalled that Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has implemented a 4.22 percent increase in electricity tariffs for all non-lifeline residential customers, impacting the average end-user. This decision follows a review conducted for the third quarter of 2023 by the PURC.
The primary objective of this tariff adjustment is to maintain the real value of the cost of providing utility services.
However, the new tariff structure maintains existing rates for lifeline customers, industrial customers, and non-residential entities such as hairdressing salons, barbering shops, chop bars, tailoring and dress-making shops, cold stores, and other small- to medium-scale businesses. These segments of customers will not experience any changes or increments in their electricity tariffs.
Speaking Monday on the State of Our Nation as part of efforts to educate clients on the increment and also to receive concerns, Mr. Asare, noted that businesses and lifeline consumers will not be affected.
While appreciating the feedback from the listener, Alimata Bamie, Customer Services Officer of NEDCO, Upper East Region, urged members of the public to avoid wastage and conserve energy.
“With the increment now, we have to try and curb wastages in our various homes especially when it comes to our lightening. We put lights on from morning to evening and that and all these add to our consumption”.
“If you go around day time, you’ll see a lot of lights on. As for the meter, it is reading. It doesn’t know that you have gone out. So all these things add up to our consumption and we complain that the bill is so high. So let’s try and conserve electricity,” she advised.
