We’ve Hit 57% Growth in Metering, Says PHED Boss

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Plc, Dr. Benson Uwheru, has revealed that the firm has hit 57 per cent growth rate in metering of its customers.

He, however, pointed out that about 285,000 of them were still unmetered.

The electricity distribution company has also revealed that its revenue hit N7 billion in June.

Uwheru, made the disclosures yesterday, in Port Harcourt, during a media parley to mark one-year anniversary of the company’s operation under his watch as Managing Director.

According to the PHED boss, the distribution company has within one year made significant impact in power supply to its customers across its areas of reach and achieved result because of effective collaborations.

He said its tripod pillar of transformation was being achieved, adding that the vision of PHED was to become the number one electricity distribution company in the nation.

Uwheru said: “Customer services is a pillar of our transformation. We want to appreciate our customers across the states of our operation. The results we have achieved today is by the dedication of our customers.

“Our service delivery has continued to improve day to day. The steps we took last year have improved our delivery even in our franchise areas.

“We wanted to achieve operational efficiency and standardisation. We want to prove our processes through technology. We recorded significant improvement in the last one year.”

On the increased revenue collection, the MD said “When we came onboard, the company was doing about N4.9 billion, but I am happy to announce to the press and our stakeholders that because we have improved service delivery, we have improved our energy allocations, the service pay tariff, we have been able to grow revenues significantly above 50 per cent.

“Last month, we achieved a historic number in terms of revenue growth of N7 billion revenue. This is also a testament of our dogged determination towards investment.”

Uwheru hinted that, “Aggregate of Technical, Commercial and Collections (ATC&C) loses which was almost hitting 50 per cent has come down to about 39.32 per cent which is also a positive achievement when you consider the target we had for 2023 which was at 38 per cent, although we are not within the regulatory benchmark, but through proactive steps we have been able to reduce our ATC&C loses.”

On reason for not Implementing the new electricity billing, Uwheru noted that the Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC), was yet to tell them to implement the increment, adding that that the firm was still working with its known tariff system.

He said: “The tariff has not been implemented. There is no order for us to implement the increments, so we are still using our old tariff.

“We are putting a human face to the business. We are showing empathy. We are showing trust and we are empowering our people.”