Belco has committed to keeping Bermuda’s electricity supply up and running during the Covid-19 crisis.

Disconnections of residential and small commercial customers have been suspended for the next 30 days amid economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the utility added.

And the number of customers in Belco’s lobby at any one time will be restricted to a maximum of six in a social-distancing measure.

Belco said today it had activated its crisis management team in response to the pandemic.

“We will work to ensure business continuity and operational coverage,” Belco stated. “To be clear, Belco wants to assure the public that we are committed to maintaining electricity supply to our customers.”

The utility outlined the measures it was taking with regards to the potential financial struggles of customers.

“Belco is suspending all disconnects for residential and small commercial customers for the next 30 days and will review the situation after such time.

“Belco’s dedicated credit team will work with customers who may have challenges paying their bills, to devise a payment plan.

“Customers are advised to please keep the lines of communication open with our team, so that we can work together. Our customer experience team also remains available to assist customers with service requests and queries.”

Belco’s customer service centre will remain open at the utility’s headquarters at 27 Serpentine Road, but will close early at 4pm each day until further notice.

“Social distancing has also been adopted for the health and safety of our customers, particularly seniors and vulnerable customers, and our staff by limiting the number of customers in our lobby to six or less at a time,” Belco said.

“We are strongly advocating that customers consider our self-service options such as online service requests, online payments, applying for direct and on-demand debit services and payment through online banking.”

Customers can contact Belco on 299-2800 (customer experience) and 299-2801 (credit), or see www.belco.bm for more information