The Management of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc has called on customers in their franchise states of Bauchi, Benue, Gombe and Plateau to help in the fight against energy theft.
The company made the call at the weekend through the Bauchi Regional Manager, Alhaji Auwalu Banajada at the Electricity Consumer Forum, Double 4 International Conference Centre, Old Jos Road, GRA Bauchi.
Banajada disclosed that apart from the activities of vandals, energy theft remains the worst challenge bedeviling the company.
According to him, Jos Electricity Distribution Plc had lost billions of naira on a monthly basis so far because of the nefarious activities of energy thieves and vandals.
In his words, “energy theft has been a major problem in this business. You see someone in a community tampering with elevator installations and no one bothered to challenge or ask him questions. It should not be so”.
He admonished community leaders not to remain adamant and complacent in the fight against energy theft and vandalism saying, “as a result of your refusal to safeguarding electricity installations in your domains, these facilities will be destroyed and it is both the company and the communities that suffers. The community will be in darkness until what was vandalised was replaced. And this could take time”, adding, “JED PLC has zero budget for vandalised items”.
He therefore urged customers to take ownership of electricity installations in their domains by exhibiting vigilance on electricity facilities.
“Do not allow unauthorised access to electricity facilities located in your areas. If you see any suspicious movement, kindly ask to know the identity of the person and if you are not satisfied, arrest the person and hand him or her over to security agents and let us know. We should not fold our hands and allow unscrupulous elements in the society destroyed what collectively belongs to us”, he counselled.
Babajada who also lamented that a lot of customers were indebted to the company to the tune of several billions of naira urged customers to endeavour to pay for their consumed energies as according to him their non payment was negatively affecting the operations of the company.
According to him, “since the introduction of the Service Reflective Tariff, JED Plc has tremendously improved on its services to her customers. We have been supplying electricity faithfully to our customers based on the category of Bands they belong to and it is therefore expected that customers should reciprocate our efforts by timeously paying for the energy that they consumed. If you don’t pay for energy consumed, how do we pay those in the value chain “.
The Regional Manager who commended the Bauchi State Government as well as the Bauchi Emirate Council for constantly coming to their aid each time their attentions were sought called on members of the public to take advantage of the current National Mass Metering Programme to get their premises metered free of charge.
He charged customers to report anybody demanding money from them for the purpose of metering.
He advised customers with complaints about over billings to channel their complaints through any of the company offices or it social media handles assuring that complaints would be expeditiously attended to.
Meanwhile, the Sarkin Turuwun, Alhaji Mohammed Turuwun has commended the Regional Management of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc in Bauchi for rendering quality and effective services to the people of Bauchi State.
The Traditional ruler who said that the company had improved tremendously in the area of uninterrupted power supply and prompt response to customers complaints urged the company to sustain the tempo.
Also speaking, former permanent Secretary in the state, Alhaji Hassan Adamu also commended JED PLC for their prompt response to complaints.
“Whenever our transformer had issues or there are problems and we complained, they will expeditiously attend to us”, he said.
Alhaji Adamu who is currently the Chairman of the Bauchi State Nomadic Education promised to mobilise his people in Shira Local Government Area towards safeguarding electricity installations in the area.
In the same vein, another retired Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi Yashi from Alkaleri Local Government Area who also commended Jos Electricity Distribution Plc for improved services said that the regular sensitization of customers by the company was worthy of commendation.
