- Port Harcourt residents will soon be paying more for electricity as the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) has unveiled a plan for the gradual increase in electricity tariff for its customers over the next 10 years.
- The company’s Head Customers Service, Dr. Godwin Orovwiroro, said this in Calabar, Cross River State, during a public consultation on tariff review.
- According to him, the new system would see an increase in tariff every two years for five years, after which the increase would stabilise and customers would begin to pay less.
“There will be an initial rise in tariff but when more operators come into the business, it will likely crash. What you will lose in the first two years, you will actually recover in a few years, because then, there will be competition and the tariff regime will either come down or stabilise,” he said.
- Orovwiroro said that energy generation was influenced by the macroeconomic factors and outlined some of the challenges facing the distribution company to include vandalism, energy theft, illegal connections and obsolete equipment.
- He added that some people who were caught perpetrating some of these economic crimes were being arrested and prosecuted.
- According to him, the company has undertaken some measures to reposition its operations in order to serve the consumers better.