The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) has provided 60% metering coverage for its customers across Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom states.
Speaking during a customer’s enlightenment meeting on Tuesday 11 November in Port Harcourt, the Managing Director of PHED, Mr. Ete Pinnick stated that the need to improve on existing customer service necessitated the public engagement. Over 18,000 new meters have been allocated to the company for onward distribution freely to its customers through the second phase of the Meter Acquisition Fund program (MAF) metering scheme.
“We want everybody to be metered and we are working towards that and we should be able to get everybody metered.” “There is a lot of work going on, if it is up to me we will not have any post-paid.”
“MAF phase 2, in phase 1 we had 10,000 meters allocated to our region, this time we have 16,000.”
Mr Pinnick who highlighted the gains made by the company in providing services urged residents of Rivers State to utilize the communication channels created by the PHED to resolve complaints that arise for service delivery.
He noted that despite the challenges faced by electrical distribution companies in the country, PHED is set to drive a cultural transformation in providing service based on integrity.
“We created this Forum to listen to the customers to listen, to get feedback so that we could learn and work together with the customer to see how better we can serve them.”
“We run four states, we do this every quarter, this is the last one for the year which is Port Harcourt but we also have channels through which our customers can reach us, our phone numbers and social media handles.”
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While x-raying the challenges faced by Electrical Distribution companies, Mr Pinnick called for support against electricity theft and entitlement mentality on some communities who insist on using electricity but refuse to pay for it.
“As long as we continue to have other bands that cannot pay and the government keeps funding, I think that the progress in the power sector will continue to be slow.”
“The entitlement mentality is very strong, if I take Afam as a community because they host distribution and generation, they are not paying bills, they are one of the communities in Nigeria that receives most power and they have not paid any bill.”
Representing the Permanent Secretary Rivers State Ministry of Power at the event, The Head of Network, Engr. Meshack Orji reiterated the commitment of Rivers State Government to support the effort of PHED in the provision of stable power supply for residents of the State.
“For us, we have continued to partner with PHED in ensuring that power goes to everyone and we have done a lot of intervention programs.”
“The Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has done a lot of intervention programs in the power sector through donations and installation of transformers to communities that have these power needs.”
He noted that the Rivers State Government has and will continue to liase with PHED in a bid to address concerns raised by residents of the State on services rendered by the company in order to bring about a more reliable power source.
