Eko electricity distribution company (EKEDC), has promised to improve its electricity supply to customers within the network.
Eko Disco pledges to improve hourly supply of electricity to customers
The disco also said it would continue to make more efforts to reduce fraud, vandalism and energy theft within its network operations.
The chief executive officer, EKEDC Dr. Tinuade Sanda, gave the assurance at the customers’ interactive forum held at its Apapa business unit on Thursday in Lagos.
The customers at the forum were drawn from various areas under the Apapa district which include Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Amukoko, Badia, Ajegunle, Tolu community, Plaza, Idewu, Odofin, Sari, Boundary and Apapa.
Sanda, represented by the company’s chief commercial officer, Rekhiat Momoh, said that EKEDC would reduce power supply outages and increase prepaid installation efforts to bridge the metering gap by the end of 2023.
She said that over 100 cases of transformer, vandalization were recorded in various communities under its network in 2023.
Sanda said that the essence of the meeting was to interact with customers directly on issues of concern and address them instantly.
She said that each of the vandalized transformers replaced cost over a million naira, adding that this also impacted on the revenue of the Disco.
According to her, the situation is rampant within the company’s network, particularly in Surulere and Apapa.
“This is a major problem that is faced by every disco and not just EKEDC alone.
“The message for the forum is tagged, “If you see something, you say something”. That is the truth because we have recorded a lot of cases of vandalism and energy theft.
“So, the essence of today’s meeting was to tell the customer that they should speak out when they see things happening in their environment, especially when people are stealing energy or our transformers were being vandalized,” she added.
On meter, Sanda said that the company targeted to install about 150,000 pre-paid electricity meters before the end of the year, adding that the Disco had installed over 80,000 meters to date.
She said that the company’s expectation was that more customers would apply for meters which is expected to hit 100, 000 metering by December.
The EKEDC helmsman said that the company’s energy losses were quite high, hovering between 20 per cent and 28 per cent on average.
She said that the company had commenced installation of meters on poles, outside premises, to curb energy theft.
Sanda said: “This process to install meters outside premises, in my opinion, is the best solution towards energy theft.
“Because once these meters are installed in their bedrooms and sitting rooms, other people will not have access to it and you will agree with me that it is easy to know when a thief is stealing.
“You will not have access to it when you have it on the pole and high up, you will know whether they are bypassing meters or not.
“The losses are quite high, it is almost every Discos, to be very honest with you. In EKEDC yesterday, it was actually 24.5 per cent losses.
“Also our revenue collections within the network on average stood at 85 per cent.
“We have shared the whistle-blowing number with the community leaders. So, our expectation is that once they suspect someone, they can whistle blow to us and they will be covered, we are not going to reveal their identity,” Sanda explained.
She said that the company had urged various communities within the network to engage security personnel in securing electricity equipment in their neighbourhood.
Also, , chief audit and compliance officer, Mrs. Sheri AdegbenroEKEDC, said there had been improvement in power supply across the board.
“For today, one of the key take away that everybody has been saying, even the Kabiyesi, is that there has been improvement and we cannot take that from the effort of the company and of the community.
“There has been improvement in our power supply across the board. That is one of the things that is good in all.
“Vandalism is one thing that has been mentioned as well. But again, it has to be both the company and also the community that will actually assist with that,” she said.
On 2023 international fraud awareness week, Adegbenro urged the community to report any suspected cases of vandalism or fraud, whether from external or other customers that actually live within the community or even internal employees.
“Whatever it is when something just looks off, a red flag and they need to seek clarification, please report to us immediately, giving us the details of the situation.
“Then we will investigate to know whether it is just a misunderstanding, whether we need to actually take action because there is vandalism taking place or whether we need to investigate because actually a fraud occurred.
She said that customers’ compliance was not 100 per cent, but there was an improvement while condemning incessant attacks on workers by some communities while performing their official duties.
“There was a situation where a community attacked one of our employees, and of course, the employee was actually discharging one of his duties, and we take that as non-compliance.
“We are still waiting for who did it and that is why we will not go into that community to give them whatever services that they need because again, an attack on one is an attack on all.
“Our employees need to be safe, that issue has occurred and the Kabiyesi reiterated it.
