Following the growing number of attack incidents on staff of electricity distribution companies across the nation by aggrieved power consumers, some staff of the companies now carry out their duties in fear.
The Tide gathered that the staff mostly affected are the field workers and those issuing bills to consumers.
A staff of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) who disclosed this in an interview with The Tide at Afam in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State said, “each time we are going to the filed, we always pray for God to save us from the hands of aggrieved consumers”.
The staff who pleaded anonymity said the consumers view them as those responsible for the regular power outages in the area.
“The consumers think PHED field workers cut their light at will but they do not know that outages are caused by many factors most of which are beyond us”, he stated.
‘Even though the field workers and bill clerks are most prone to such possible attacks, even the company workers in the offices are also net free from such fears because there are incidents when aggrieved consumers mostly the youths violently attack company staff in offices”, said the PHED staff.
He narrated incidents when those who go out to the field to disconnect lines of debtors were accosted and beaten up and stressed need for them to be properly protected while they carry out their duties.
He particularly urged management of PHED to make available armed security agents to protect the staff especially when they are assigned duties to some violent prone areas.
It would be recalled that staff of the company in Afam were recently attacked and the company vehicle destroyed by irate youths in the area over power outages.
There was also a reported case of PHED field workers who were attacked at Eagle Island when they went for disconnection of debtors lines.
Another such case also happened at Olorunsogo, in Ibada Oyo State where multi-million electricity facity was burnt down by youths, a situation which resulted in four years black out in the area.
The case is not different in other areas in the country.
Power consumers are becoming inpatient and violent over increase level of a epileptic supply in the country. The DISCOs appear to be most exposed to the danger as their staff operate directly with the consumers.
Staff of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) were also said to had abandoned their office last week, when angry youths in Felele area of Oyo State matched down to the company’s office in protest against regular outages.
But sometimes, the issue of inadequate gas supply by Power Generating companies as well as failure by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to carry out its duties also contribute to power outages, a situation that is obviously beyond the DISCOs, yet the staff of the distribution firms suffer the resultant attacks by angry consumers.

Chris Oluoh