By DESMOND EJIBAS

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) advises its customers against making financial contributions for the repairs of faulty transformers in their area.

The company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr John Onyi, in a statement on Friday said that it is the PHED’s sole responsibility to replace or repair faulty electrical equipment serving customers.

“It remained PHED’s sole responsibilityand not the customers, to replace or repair faulty electrical equipment serving customers in the states ofAkwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers .

“This advice is due to the increasing cases of reported extortion of customers by self-acclaimed chairmen of neighbourhood electricity committees and other collaborators.

“We urge customers not to contribute money for transformers or any other electrical equipment in whatever guise.

“The distribution network remains the sole responsibility of PHED,” he stated.

Onyi said that service providers were awarded ownership of all electrical equipment as contained in the policy document of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

“To demonstrate our commitment to the policy, PHED contracted competent contractors that specialise in the repairs of transformers among other equipment.

“Also, the company recently upgraded over 355 workers to full staff and assigned them to manage transformers in clusters; customers’ accounts and repairs and replacement of faulty equipment.

“We are worried that despite our concerted effort to curb illegal extortion, fraudsters are still extorting our customers to enrich their pockets at customer’s expense,” he said.

The statement urged customers to report any fault on transformers servicing their homes to the nearest PHED office or call 070022557433. (NAN)