Impedance measurements have been performed on a sintered polycrystalline sample of the perovskite LaBiMn4/3Co23O6. Colossal dielectric permittivity is often measured in this class of semiconducting materials as a result of extrinsic factors. Our results show that a large offset in the capacitance, measured on a series of samples with different thickness, is due to the interfacial polarization. This contribution can then be removed from the data, creating a general procedure for dielectric measurements in semiconducting samples. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.