A former employee of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) has been taken into custody for manipulating and evading prepaid metres belonging to clients in Onitsha, the Anambra State economic hub.
The suspect identified as Lawrence Okeke specializes in the replacement of original meter sensors with fake ones thereby bypassing the meters and making them not record the actual consumption by customers.
The Head of Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, who made this known in a statement in Enugu State, on Thursday, July 11, 2024, said the development has negatively impacted the revenue of the distribution company.
Ezeh said that following a report by a whistle blower, the Meter Monitoring Team of the company was deployed to some locations on a routine meter monitoring inspection.
At one of the customer’s premises visited at Bida Road, Onitsha, they discovered that the meter was bypassed, and the original meter sensor was removed and replaced with the fake one.
While the team interrogated the customer who already admitted their findings, the customer gave out the identity and contact of the individual who performed the bypass as Lawrence Okeke, who happens to be an ex-staff of EEDC.
Immediately, Lawrence was tracked and arrested, and handed over to the Central Police Station, Onitsha, where he is currently assisting the Police in their investigation.
According to Ezeh, Lawrence Okeke who hails from Adogba Village in Awgu Local Government Area, Enugu State, was disengaged from EEDC in December 2020 for gross misconduct.
“The apprehension of the suspect by the team is a great breakthrough in the organization’s fight against meter bypass and energy theft”, Ezeh said.
“It is believed that by the time the investigation is concluded, a lot of atrocities already perpetrated by the likes of Lawrence in our network, will be unraveled”.
Ezeh cautioned customers who engage in meter bypass to desist from such as the company has stepped up its prepaid meter monitoring activities and anyone caught will be made to face the music.
He also advised the customers against the activities of some ex-staff of EEDC who still parade the network as though they are still working for the company, while they are busy extorting unsuspecting customers and carrying out criminal and illegal activities that undermine the organization’s efforts in providing quality services to its esteemed customers.
“Customers should always be mindful of who they are engaging as staff of EEDC and be sure of their identity, as a lot of people out there carrying out illegalities, parading as staff of EEDC are not in its employ”, Ezeh warned.