With effect from February 1, electricity customers under the Enugu Electricity Distribution (EEDC) making payments above N3,000 can no longer do so in cash, as they are expected to pay using the electronic and other alternative payment channels available to them.
In a statement made available to Blueprint Thursday, which was signed by Head of Communications, EEDC, Mr Emeka Ezeh, the move by the organisation is in compliance with the recent cashless policy initiative introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Ezeh said that payments for electricity bill above N3,000.00 will no longer be accepted in cash at any of EEDC’s payment outlets from 1st February.
He enumerated the electronic and other alternative payment channels to include: Point of Sale (PoS, using ATM cards), Energy Pay (by logging on to: www.enugudisco.com), any bank outlet/ collection agents (these include: Paga, Capricorn, Fidelity Bank, G-pay, Vatebra, Fucil Data tech and Direct Bank Transfer (mostly for Maximum Demand customers).
According to him, the collection agents are present in rural communities and can also be found in all locations across EEDC franchise area.
It will be recalled that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) through an order issued on 30th December, 2019, ordered distribution companies (DisCos) to migrate to cashless settlement platforms for its electricity bills collection, for residential, industrial and commercial customers.
This order is in line with presidential directive geared towards reducing collection leakages and losses, and improve overall revenue assurance in the power sector.
Consequently, to ensure strict compliance by the DisCos, NERC mandated the transition to cashless settlement platforms for the billing/collection of residential, industrial and commercial customers.
Ezeh advised customers to support this initiative and comply by taking advantage of the range of electronic payment platforms in paying their electricity bills, and to always endeavor to obtain receipt after any payment.
He went on to appeal to customers to always pay their electricity bills, as that is the only way the sector can be efficient and be in a position to deliver improved services.
