The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has decried poor payment culture by its post-paid customers across South-East in spite of the steady improvement in electricity supply.
The Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr Emeka Ezeh, said this in a statement in Enugu on Sunday.
It would be recalled that the company just concluded a Cash Drive exercise across its network last week.
Ezeh said that the company also had steadily improved on the quality of its services.
He lamented the huge collection loss the company was grappling with while striving to improve on the quality of services.
According to him, the company strives at the same time to 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.
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“This situation informed the need for us to embark on the Cash Drive exercise, to enable us to meet with these customers one-on-one to know why they are not paying their bills,’’ he said.
Ezeh emphasised that `cash is key’ in running the operations of the company as it enables it to attend to the barrage of network challenges and carry out some network expansion projects targeted at improved performance and service delivery.
“On monthly basis the company imports and distributes energy to its customers but ends 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.
“It is expected that the impact of this improvement has to reflect in their bills and payments at the end of the month,’’ Ezeh said.
The EEDC spokesman noted 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.’’
He advised customers who had issues with their electricity bills to take advantage of the established customer redress mechanism at the Customer Service Units 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,’’ he said.