Energy Theft: PHED Establishes 315 Cases In Rivers

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) says it has established about 315 cases of energy theft cutting across 15 Business Units of its area of coverage in Rivers State.
The Manager, Corporate Communication, Mr. Jonah Iboma, who stated this last Friday while in aggressive chase of defaulters, appealed to its customers to avoid any act capable of impacting negatively on the growth of the company.
Iboma said record shows that 61,858 customers in the company’s database have been using energy without visiting any of the outlets for payment of electricity bills.
According to him, “The hard posture from some of the recalcitrant customers had, therefore, necessitated the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company to embark on aggressive chase of its revenue if it must remain in business.
“The war against energy theft started when PHED discovered that many customers have tampered with their meters by diverting some or at times completely load from the meter thereby reducing the revenue such meter(s) could have generated to the company”, he said.
The image maker of the company said, in its determination to eradicate energy theft in the system, the company in conjunction with the Nigeria Police, Rivers State Command, arrested five suspected energy thieves.
The suspects, he explained, were arrested at various places within Port Harcourt metropolis. Two arrests came from School Road extension, Okujuagu, Trans Amadi area while one was from No. 59 and two persons from No. 77 Ikwerre Road, Mile 1, Diobu in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, (PHALGA), of Rivers State.

Chikwere Uzoigwe

L-R: Partner, Management Consulting, KPMG, Mr Segun Sowande; Partner and Head of Audit Service, Mr Tola Adeyemi and Partner, Tax regulation and People Services, Mr Ajibola Olomola, at a news conference on KPMG Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) Survey report launch in Lagos, recently