Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) said residents of Calabar and its environs were indebted to it to the tune of N675 million.

Business Manager of the company in Calabar, Mr Emmanuel Otiji, disclosed this in an interview.

He said that the huge indebtedness by the customers was impairing power provision in the area, adding that collecting the money from them had been difficult.

Otiji said that against a target of N200 million monthly revenue in the area, the company had only been realising about N100 million, describing it as “unimpressive performance.”

He, therefore, appealed to the residents to pay their bills regularly, saying that, that was the only way to guarantee functional and efficient services from the company.

Otiji said that the incessant power outages and low voltage currently being experienced by customers might continue, if bills were not paid to enable PHCN to have funds to finance its operations.

He said that no less than 18,500 consumers were connected to the pre-payment meter system in the area but regretted that the number had reduced to less than 16,000.

The development, he explained, “resulted from many customers belief that prepaid was easier to manage but they have discovered that with pre-payment meter, you cannot be extravagant in your usage of electricity.”

“So, a lot of consumers have secretly disconnected themselves from pre-payment metering system and we are even expecting that more persons will join the trend,’’ he said.

He stressed the need for pre-payment meter customers to regulate the use of electricity in their homes and offices by avoiding wastage.