PHCN Sets Out to Recover its Debts – To Publish Debtors’ Names in National Dailies

Now is not a good time to be indebted to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN) as its management has announced plans to publish names of its debtors in national dailies.

The Managing Director of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Idris Mohammed said customers of the electricity company had debts amounting to N16 billion.

He continued saying that electricity consumers owe the company huge debts despite all efforts to ensure regular and effective debt collection.

In a news report by Premium Times, the electricity boss said that the present debt profile was not favourable to the company’s corporate survival and urged consumers to settle their electricity bills to ensure good service delivery at all times.

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The argument of most electricity consumers who owe the PHCN huge debts is that bills are charged on electricity that hasn’t been consumed. Before the prepaid meters was introduced, residents complained that even when they travelled and their houses were locked up for a long period, they still receieved their electricity bills. Also, when power supply was cut off for weeks due to major faults, the bills kept coming.

To an extent, this problem has been solved with the introduction of prepaid meters. However, most electricity consumers still use the old billing system which still has a lot of problems.

Most residents eagerly await the completion of the privatisation process of the PHCN which they hope would bring transparency to the billing process.

What do you think about the PHCN’s plan to publish the names of debtors in national dailies? Would this ensure that debtors pay their bills?

Photo Credit: Leadership