EEDC urges institutions to verify, confirm authenticity of electricity bills
Charles Onyekwere
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has cautioned banks and related institutions where its electricity bills are used as proof of address to ensure that they confirm these documents with the company.
The Head, Communications of EEDC, Mr Emeka Ezeh, said in a statement issued and signed by him yesterday in Enugu.
Ezeh said that the electricity company was concerned about the increasing report of some fraudulent individuals forging its electricity bill for account opening purpose.
According to him, EEDC will therefore not be liable if any criminal or fraudulent activity is perpetrated with any forged electricity bill.
He said that there had been situations where staff of EEDC (marketers) whose names and phone numbers appear on EEDC electricity bills for ease of customer engagement, are embarrassed and detained by police during investigation on fraud cases over a forged bill.
“We just recorded three such cases in Aba, and there is every possibility that this is also happening unnoticed at other locations within our franchise area.
“To check this growing negative trend, we appeal to banks to be cautious and ensure they carry out extensive check and verification of any EEDC electricity bill tendered for account opening purpose as proof of address,’’ he said.
It would be recalled that as part of initiatives geared towards ensuring enjoyable customer experience, EEDC recently modified its electricity bill to wear a new look from September.
The additional features in the A5 sized electricity bill include a summary of previous balance; last payment made by the customer and a barcode which is a security feature.
Other features are: details of feeder and transformer serving the customer; name and phone number of the marketer in-charge as well as pictorial representation of customer’s meter reading.Ends
