Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
The attention of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc., PHED, has been drawn to a widely circulated and misconceived story in the public space credited to the Managing Director, Ibom Power, Engr. Meyen Etukudoh, alleging that “PHED is corrupt and offers poor services ”.
The Management of PHED has not come to terms with such a fallacious story allegedly made by Engr. Etukudoh who represents the State in series of meetings between PHED and Akwa Ibom State targeted at improving electricity supply in every nook and cranny of the state just like in any other area. PHED is yet to understand the rationale behind such unfounded and malicious statement coming from a major key player like him who is also an intermediary between the state and PHED.
Without ambiguity, PHED is a responsible organization that has zero tolerance for corruption. The Management of PHED under the leadership of Dr. Henry Ajagbawa has reinvigorated the fight against corruption in different dimensions from sanctioning to naming and shaming of offenders arising from energy theft, meter bypass, unauthorized access to the network, among many others.
To this end, a hotline -08114646572, managed in the office of the MD/CEO was put in place to report corruption related issues on both Staff and customers involve in any infractions against the business.
Dr. Henry Ajagbawa on assumption of office, has implemented many projects aimed at service improvement. Some of the projects include rehabilitation of Itam 2×7.5 MVA 33/11kv Injection Substation, condition monitoring of 12Nos within Akwa Ibom, installation of complete protection scheme and rehabilitation of 11kv panel at Itam Injection substation. Filtration was also carried out on 1×15 MVA 33/11kv located at Ikot Ekpene to improve availability on out- going 11kv feeders.
Also, several maintenance jobs on the network were not left out in its avowed determination in service delivery to its customers.In addition, PHED embarked on massive investment in electricity infrastructures with reference to the construction and stringing of a new feeder and its configuration to evacuate 48 megawatts from Rumuosi Transmission station in Port Harcourt to augment the daily allocation from the national grid, among other areas.
On 31st August 2020, the Company launched a State-Of –The-Art 24/7 Call Centre, adjudged to be one of the best in Nigeria aimed at giving customer unfettered access to report service faults anytime with real time resolutions.
Also, as a means of improving the performance of its workforce to ensure that all customer clusters are served satisfactorily, over 355 graduates from different fields of human endeavor were recently employed to meet service demand of which Uyo Zone has over 22 percent of the entire workforce.
Contrary to the publication, PHED did not bring in old PHCN staff to its fold but rather some of them that have demonstrated competence after the successful privatization of electricity industry on November 1, 2013 were absolved into the system.
To encourage and motivate staff members for efficiency and productivity, the new management under Dr. Henry Ajagbawa gave permanent appointment to hitherto outsourced DSOs-Distribution System Operators and went ahead to increase the salaries of lines-workers who have remained stagnant since their employment over six years ago.
On revenue drive, PHED beyond operating in its capacity as a business entity is mandated by Regulators to remit funds of certain percentage of energy used by the customers. It is therefore, imperative that our collection drive must be at its best for the survival of the company.
Finally, while we welcome constructive criticisms targeted at service improvement, it is very unfortunate that such a discordant voice is coming from a supposedly partner in the electricity industry. PHED will continue to engage its stakeholders in its franchise area for mutual benefits.
Statement signed by Mr. John Onyi, Manager, Corporate Communications, PHED
