Business
PHED Warns Against Payment For Transformer Replacement

As the customer service week of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (OHED) ended last week, the Chief Operating Officer,( COO) of the company, Engr. John Kingsley Achife, has warned Electricity consumers in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross Rivers State not to pay money to anyone for the replacement of damaged equipment or to buy materials of any sort.
Achife who stated this last weekend to mark the end this year customers service week, revealed that the distribution company has mapped out a strategy to visit the neighborhoods, where transformers had either been vandalized or failed with a view to partnering with them to replace such transformers.
According to him, “Instead of contributing money to buy transformers, what customers are expected to do is just to pay for the debt accrued on such transformer and PHED would immediately bring new transformer”.
‘’ The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, has rolled out series of encouraging activities to mark this year’s International Customer in its determined effort to improve service delivery to her numerous customers in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers States.’’, he said.
He said the theme of this year’s celebration is: “Operation Bring Back Transformer”. The theme was carefully chosen out of the power challenges faced by customers, whose transformers were vandalized by unknown persons.
The company recognizes the importance of customers in its business models, hence the need to partner with them for the continuous existence of PHED.
Achife said that some of the company’s customers have been thrown into unnecessary darkness by the activities of the vandals, who are in the habit of removing armoured cables of different sizes, cutting of aluminum conductors, draining of transformer oil, among others, noted that PHED has mapped out a strategy to visit the neighborhoods, where transformers had either been vandalized or failed with a view to partnering with them to replace such transformers
However, The Tide learnt that more personnel have been deployed by the management at its Integrated Business Centres, (IBCs), to complement the 24/7 call centres to accelerate the resolution of customers’ complaints while E-mails and short messages were sent to customers to appreciate their loyalty over the years in commemoration of the ended customers service week.