By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Electricity of non-paying customers within the franchise network of Ikeja Electric Plc will not be disconnected during the 2-week stay-at-home period enforced by federal government to curb the spread of COVID-19.
This announcement was made on Wednesday by the management of the leading electricity distribution company in the country.
Acting CEO of Ikeja Electric, Ms Folake Soetan, while making the announcement, stated that, “At Ikeja Electric, we are committed to ensuring that our customers enjoy steady and quality supply throughout this difficult period and beyond. We recognize the fact that electricity supply is critical to our ability to stay safe, clean and indoors.”
She further explained that the decision to suspend all disconnection activities was consider those who cannot afford to pay their March 2020 bills due to the closure.
“Therefore, we have also taken a decision to suspend all disconnection activities of non-paying customers for the period of two weeks starting today.
“This is to ensure that customers who cannot afford to pay their March bills due to the closure continue to enjoy supply until the stay at home order is lifted. Customers who also wish to pay their bills can also do so using any of our designated online payment platforms.
“Our prepaid customers can buy energy online using any of your preferred online banking or merchant platforms. You can also visit our website to purchase vending units,” she added.
Speaking further, she noted that Ikeja Electric as one of the companies designated as essential services has put measures in place to ensure that engineers and technicians are available to clear all forced and unforced outages, while also continuing with the preventive maintenance programmes.
Ikeja Electric said in line with its mantra of treating customer first, using technology now policy, the customer service representatives will be available to respond to all complaints and inquiries promptly and professionally.
Ikeja Electric said it will leverage on its world-class communication tools online and via social media to attend to complaints and inquiries while also increasing the turnaround time for resolution.
It also noted that all employees on essential services throughout this lockdown period are committed to ensuring that customers get the best service in line with our processes and best practices.
She urged customers to avoid giving any monetary inducement to any employees as they carry out the job of serving customers better.
“At Ikeja Electric the job is not done until it is done. It is our job to serve you. In carrying out their job, our trained engineers will deploy globally accepted safety procedures and practice social distancing, and all that is required to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“We, therefore, solicit the support of customers to cooperate with our staff as they carry out their duties while we restate our commitment to deliver steady electricity supply in line with our allocation,” the Disco added.
Ikeja Electric said the management and staff are keenly following developments across the country as well as advice of government and health institutions as part of concerted efforts to safeguard everyone and to make sure the workplaces remain safe.
It further urged customers to also observe precautionary measures and other safety protocols stipulated by government agencies and health organizations in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from the virus.
Adedapo Adesanya