Revenue loss: EEDC resort to name and shame
In a bid to save its increasing monthly revenue loss occasioned by the activities of electricity customers who engage in energy theft and other related activities, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company has resorted to reveal the identities of the individuals to the public.
Describing the move as name and shame, the electricity company said the decision became necessary because of the huge revenue loss it incurs monthly. A figure it put at about 43% of its monthly revenue.
A statement by Emeka Eze, Head Communications of EEDC said the activities of the energy theft is negatively impacting its business and is quite discouraging.
“This act, where the perpetrators fraudulently use electricity supply without paying for it is highly prevalent in the South East and has seen EEDC consistently loose average of 43% of its revenue monthly.
“It is against this backdrop that the management of EEDC decided to name and shame any individual or group engaging in such act, going forward. This will be after they would have been served the statutory fine and loss of revenue and subsequently handed over to law enforcement agents for prosecution.
Eze said the recent review of fine for meter bypass by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) from N50,000 to N450,000 is quite commendable. As it is expected to serve as a deterrent to others and possibly reduce the rate of the act.
”To tackle this menace, we have set up a special task force to monitor and carry out routine check on our customers to fish out those engaging in this criminal act.
“It is quite disappointing that the customers who are neck-dip in this activity are the high energy users.
“This is a big challenge to us as a business and we can’t afford to treat this with kid gloves any longer, else it will drown the entire business,” he observed.
He however encouraged customers to report any one engaging in this act to the nearest EEDC office or call its Whistle Blowing line (084 700 110) to report such person.
