Jos DisCo carpets customers for vandalism, poor payment of bills

The Managing Director of Jos Electricity Distribution Company Engineer Abdu Mohammed has decried the increase in the vandalisation of installations, adding that it has an impact on distribution.

Arewa PUNCH reports that Mohammed made this disclosure while speaking at a customers’ consultative meeting for Doma feeder, saying, “We organise these meetings to understand their (customers) issues and address them. JEDC is facing significant challenges due to vandalism and low revenue.”

Mohammed who was represented by the Regional Manager of JEDC in Gombe, Abubakar Sa’ad, noted that the company respects its customers and values their feedback, appealed to customers to pay their electricity bills promptly and report cases of vandalism, which is crippling the company’s operations.

While explaining further the high rate of vandalism, energy theft, and low revenue collection, which threatens the sustainability of the business, Mohammed added, “We consume energy worth over N2bn but billing is just N200m.”

Also speaking, Yerima Baba, the Regional Manager of JEDC’s Doma region, attributed the poor revenue collection to customers’ failure to pay their bills, with some paying randomly or in arrears, “We urge customers to reciprocate the stable energy supply by paying their bills,” he appealed.

On his part, Abubakar Lamido, the Safety Officer at JEDC’s headquarters, warned against building under high-tension wires, emphasising the risks to health and property,  encouraging customers to report any violations of the right-of-way policy.

“JED has declared zero tolerance for corruption and vandalism and encourages whistleblowers to report incidents confidentially. The company is working with security agencies to investigate and address these issues,” he added.

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