The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) has called for an end to corruption within the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), blaming it for poor service delivery to consumers.
The call was made on Tuesday, September 2, during a one-day interactive session between the union and senior staff of PHED in Port Harcourt.
In a keynote address themed “Stamping Out Corruption in PHED,” Comrade Innocent Lord-Douglas, Deputy General Secretary of SSAEAC South-South/South-East, described the level of corruption and sharp practices in the company as alarming.
According to him, eliminating corruption would lead to improved services for electricity consumers. He lamented that the company had become morally sick, citing widespread cases of meter bypass, collusion between staff and customers, and disregard for organisational norms.
“Corruption in PHED is increasingly diversified on a daily basis. The present situation is horrible, with prepaid meters being bypassed and marketers engaging in practices that cause the company to lose revenue,” he said.
Dr. Fred Harry, Regional Manager, Alfa Gama 1, in a paper titled “Effects of Staff Corruption in PHED on Staff Welfare (PHED Perspective),” highlighted that corruption contributes to frequent outages, inflated costs, and unfair billing. He warned that billions of naira are being lost to corrupt practices, which undermine infrastructure, discourage investment, and threaten job security.
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“Higher Costs: Consumers often pay bribes to staff to restore or maintain their electricity supply, adding to the overall cost of electricity services. Eventually, it leads to inflated costs.
“Frequent corruption leads to the neglect of infrastructure and inefficient operational practices, resulting in frequent and unreliable electricity supply. Corruption can result in inaccurate and unfair billing systems, further burdening consumers.
“Corruption creates a toxic work environment, fosters distrust, and diverts resources away from essential services and employee benefits. It erodes professionalism and weakens institutional integrity,” Harry said.
Also speaking, Comrade Chinelo Nwokorie, Gender Coordinator at PHED, called for improved working conditions for women in the electricity sector.
She noted that women face enormous stress in balancing their professional and family responsibilities and urged them to join the union to strengthen advocacy for equity.
The union stressed that urgent reforms are needed to tackle corruption in PHED in order to restore public confidence, improve electricity supply, and safeguard employee welfare.
