Piqued by the increasing rate of customers engaging in energy theft and other related activities, the management of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has announced plans to reveal the identities of individuals and members of the public.

According to a statement signed by its Head, Communications, Mr Chukwuemeka Ezeh, perpetrators fraudulently use electricity supply without paying for it, a situation that is highly prevalent in the South East, leading to EEDC consistently losing an average of 43 percent of its revenue monthly. He expressed dismay that the activity is negatively impacting its business and is quite discouraging.

“It is against this backdrop that the management of EEDC decided to name any individual or group engaging in such act. This will be after they would have been served the statutory fine and loss of revenue and subsequently handed over to law enforcement agents for prosecution."

Ezeh said the recent review of fine for meter bypass by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) from N50,000 to N450,000 was quite commendable. “It is expected that this will serve as a deterrent to others and possibly reduce the rate of this act.

“To tackle this menace, we have set up a special task force to monitor and carry out routine check on our customers to fish out those engaging in this criminal act. It is quite disappointing that the customers who are neck-dip in this activity are the high energy users.

“This is a big challenge to us as a business and we can’t afford to treat this with kid gloves any longer, else it will drown the entire business.

“A situation where some individuals feel it is their right to use electricity without paying for it has to stop. This singular act contributes largely to the issues faced by the electricity service industry in the country.”

Customers are therefore encouraged to report any one engaging in this act to the nearest EEDC office.