Electricity prices vary depending on use-BPC

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Saturday May 4, 2013 00:00

 

These prices are for domestic customers only.This, he says, is what customers do not understand, and therefore tend to believe that there is some cheating by some retailers that have partnered with BPC in selling electricity.

“What we have discovered is that in a month most people buy electricity first from BPC then from the nearest shop or filling station the second time around. Now that is when electricity will be sold at 75-thebe per unit because they have already purchased their first 200 kilowatts of that month. They therefore tend to think that the shops are a lot more expensive where as they would have paid the same even at BPC,” he says.

Moreri says that the first 200 kilowatts are a lot cheaper because the government wants to accommodate everybody including poor families who would not afford electricity if prices were higher, and to encourage reasonable use of the resource. 

Further, electricity at BPC seems to be a lot cheaper because the corporation sometimes uses the offline system when the network is down. This kind of system does not show the customers’ usage history unlike the new system, which would show whether the customer has purchased their first 200 kilowatts, or not.

The corporate then sells at 57-thebe per unit even if the clients would have already utilised their first 200 kilowatts. “So again, this is another reason why people tend to think that power is cheaper at BPC and expensive at retailers but prices are the same right across,” he said.

Meanwhile, Moreri has explained that the ‘no network’ problem that clients get at retailers is just the same as the no network problem that cellphone users experience. This is due to the fact that most power transactions between BPC and super vendors, and between super vendors and retailers and ultimately the user depends on telecommunication networks like mascom. 

This problem is most prominent during holidays and specials by cellphone networks as the number of users shoots up. The challenge can be anywhere between BPC and the super vendor or the super vendor and its retailers, or between the retailer and the user. Super vendors, like Botswana Post, buys in bulk from BPC and then distributes to its branches and sells to other retailers.

At most these transactions are through cellular networks even though BPC is working on introducing other channels like the Internet, which Barclays Bank has already introduced. Further, BPC plans to introduce a system where super vendors and retailers will be able to switch between networks as a way of addressing the no network problem.