By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) has expressed worry over poor payment culture by its postpaid customers across the South East, despite the steady improvement in the quality of its services.

The Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Emeka Ezeh, made this revelation in Enugu, on Sunday, after the just concluded Cash Drive exercise embarked on by the company across its network, last week.

Ezeh lamented the huge collection loss the company is grappling with while striving to improve on the quality of services, and at the same time meet up with its regulatory obligations to the Market Operator and other players within the electricity value chain.

“The fact that customers are so comfortable consuming our supply and not paying remains a matter of concern to us as an enterprise, as this attitude negatively impacts on our overall performance. This situation informed the need for us to embark on the Cash Drive exercise, to enable us meet with these customers one-on-one to know why they are not paying their bills.

Ezeh emphasised that cash is key in running the operations of the company, as it enables it attend to the barrage of network challenges, as well as carry out some network expansion projects targeted at improved performance and service delivery.

According to the company’s spokesman, on monthly basis the company import and distribute energy to its customers, but end up struggling to recover the revenue, thereby leaving the company with a rising debt profile.

“The fact remains that there has been steady and consistent improvement in the quality of services to our customers and it is expected that the impact of this improvement has to reflect in their bills at the end of the month,” Ezeh explained.

He further reiterated that if customers are not paying their bills as and when due, there is no way EEDC can continue sustaining its operations and providing quality services.

Ezeh went on to advise customers who have issues with their electricity bills to take advantage of the established customer redress mechanism at the Customer Service Units across our Service Centers and district Offices, to lodge their complaints.

“We are committed to serving our customers and appeal for their support in ensuring that they pay their bills promptly and avoid all forms of energy theft.”

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