Sam Ikeotuonye
23 April 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The management of Kaduna Electric has inaugurated an enforcement team to manage cases of energy theft, which has led the company into huge loses and dwindling revenue.
The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Major Bhaskar, who also doubles as the project initiator, said the job of the team is to curtail theft and penalise offending customers.
According him, the enforcement team is an integral part of the electricity distribution business which is not peculiar to Kaduna Electric but in line with international best practices.
“For the business to get returns on electricity sold, the level of wide scale stealing is not only of concern to us as a Disco but to other stakeholders like the regulators, government and shareholders.
“In dishing out penalties, we ensure that we are guided by the laws as stipulated by the regulatory body with the goal of delighting the customers by providing them qualitative energy,” he said.
Bhaskar, however, explained that the role of the enforcement team should not be seen as “policing” the customers but rather it is to educate them on the dangers of energy theft. It is also an opportunity to get closer to the customers and align them to the objectives of the company.
“The enforcement team has been used to enlighten customers on the dangers of energy theft and how it affects a paying customer. Most importantly, we have been able to address the issue of low revenue collection and to comparatively increase our collection among non-MD customers especially”.
On how long the enforcement will be in place, Bhaskar said it is a continuous process although it may slow down as the process becomes automated with the use of automated meters, which enable remote monitoring from the head office.
