By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

BPL has modified its billing dates to allow customers to receive bills by the 20th of each month.

The company hopes the switch will make it easier for consumers to budget on when to pay their power bill.

“This is significant because past practice saw the last round of customer bills sent out on the 29th of each month,” the power provider said in a statement.

“This meant that many customers got their BPL bill after payday, which meant that those customers always found themselves outside of the 21-day payment period.

“Our new billing cycle ensures this is a thing of the past, and prepares the way for BPL to reintroduce budget billing.”

BPL said budget billing is their method of averaging the bills a customer pays over a fixed period of time.

“Bahamians are used to spikes in their bills in the summer and dips in the winter: budget billing will take the total amount to be paid to BPL over a 12-month period and average that cost so the customer is paying the same amount each month.

“Budget billing with BPL will provide predictable bills to our customers. We’re taking the guesswork out of the monthly bill payment,” the company said.

On July 30 The Tribune reported that more than 1,300 customers had their supply shut off during the utility company’s latest round of disconnections.

O 12,466 New Providence and Family Island customers in arrears, 1,361 were disconnected, while 646 were reconnected.

There were also some account holders that agreed to payment plans.

As of July 31, 1,048 plans were signed by customers in New Providence and 263 in the Family Islands.

Prior to announcing that it would commence disconnections, there were 11,399 customers in arrears by more than $500 for more than 90 days as of April 1.

Additionally 1,488 customers were in arrears by more than $500 for more than 90 days since April 1.

Customers on the COVID-19 BPL deferral plan were 559.