The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has released two whistle-blowing hotlines to tackle the high rate of electricity installation vandalism within the South-East.

The company’s whistle blowing hotlines are; 084 700 110 and 0814 602 6678.

The EEDC Head of Communications, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, reeled out the numbers in a statement made available to newsmen in Enugu on Tuesday.

Ezeh, however, encouraged residents of the South-East to make use of the company’s whistle blowing hotlines to report any suspicious attempt to temper with electricity power installations in their neighbourhoods.

According to him, they can also report to the EEDC office serving them or to the nearest police station.

He noted that vandalism had been the major challenge that had continued to hamper EEDC’s operations within its franchise area.

“These vandals usually drain transformer oil as well as remove feeder pillar unit, intermediate or up-riser cables, transformer winding coil or sometimes even remove the whole transformer.

“They also vandalise spans of aluminum conductors and other line fittings such as Port Insulators and Cross-Arms,” he said.

The EEDC spokesman said that the management of the company was not relenting in her commitment to ensuring that apprehended vandals were tried in accordance with the law and made to face the consequences of their actions.

“We believe that this will serve as deterrent to many others out there (who are) engaging in such act.

“Customers are therefore advised to be vigilant and not allow these electric installations within their neighborhood vandalized, as they will be inconvenienced once this happened.”

Some vandals, who were arrested within the year, had been sentenced to various years of imprisonment in correctional centres within the South-East.