Worried by incessant by-pass of its meters and massive illegal connections, the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC), has promised handsome rewards to whistle blowers who report such electricity thieves.
“We have instituted a whistle blowers policy aimed at rewarding those that report people that steal electricity either by by-passing our meters or engaging in illegal connection,’’ JEDC managing director Gidado Modibbo said on Wednesday in Jos.
He told the News men, it was in the interest of genuine customers to be alert and report such thieves.
“When electricity is stolen, the entire value chain suffers; every aspect is affected. In the end, innocent customers pay for the quantity stolen. So, it is in the customers’ interest not to shield such thieves.’’
He said, the aggressive pursuit of electricity meters would be useless if consumers by-passed those, noting that such attitude would render them valueless.
Modibbo announced, the fines for meter by-pass had been reviewed from N50, 000 to N450, 000, to discourage those engaged in that.
The official also condemned illegal connections and blamed the trend for the inability to properly distribute electricity transmitted to the company.
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He advised electricity customers to increase their vigilance to check the activities of vandals.
“The vandals have become more destructive in the past few months. The activities of a few are disrupting services to many. We must work together to stop them from throwing us into perpetual darkness,’’ he said.
Modibbo urged Nigerians to conserve energy by shutting appliances when not in use.
“Nigerians must cultivate the habit of saving energy. If you move along the roads in the afternoon, you see electricity bulbs left on. We must change our ways and minimise such waste,’’ he said.
The managing director also dismissed claims that JEDC’s charges were higher than its counterpart nationwide, and that Jos residents were paying higher than their counterparts in the four other states of its franchise.
“Such allegations are not true. They are incorrect and baseless.
“The last time we reviewed tariff was in December 2015. We are permitted to effect minor tariff reviews after every six months, and major reviews after every five years. We have not done any.
“Before we review our tariff, we shall consult widely and interact with our customers,’’ he said, adding that the current charges were the same in all states.
He said, however, a tariff hike was inevitable in view of the rising cost of the dollar.
“All factors have gone up. We based the 2015 review on N198 to the dollar. Today, it is almost double that rate, but we are yet to pass the difference to customers,’’ he said.
Modibbo reiterated the company’s commitment to “aggressive pursuit of stable power supply’’ to grow the economy, urging customers to accept the few flaws as the consequences of decades of neglect of the sector.
