Criminalise energy theft, PHED begs govt
Port Harcourt -- The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, has charged the National Assembly to make a legislation criminalising energy theft and vandalism of electrical facilities in the country.
PHED explained that energy theft should not only be the concerns of power distribution companies, but the concerns of all Nigerians, as it remains the only way services can be improved in the power sector.??The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of PHED, Dr. Henry Ajagbawa, who stated this in Port Harcourt while briefing journalists, lamented that the company loses over N2.5 billon on monthly basis to energy theft.??Ajagbawa explained that the menace of energy theft is so deep that even workers under the company's employment have been caught on several occasions carrying out illegal activities.
He urged the National
Assembly to make a bill that would criminalise energy theft and punish offenders severely to serve as deterrent, regretting that metering has not improved the revenue of the Discos as a result of bypass and tampering.??He said: "Nigerians should be fair to the distribution companies. Customers should stop tampering with our meters, it is energy theft. Energy theft is one problem we are facing. There is a lot of meter bypass in the system.
"The only way we can survive and improve on our services is when the customers pay their bills and stop meter bypass. Those involved in meter bypass, we are coming after them and
we will get what belongs to us. Those sabotaging us, we will not allow them again.
"We need a legislation to criminalise energy theft and vandalism of electricity facilities”.