Ikeja electric bars staff from cash collection

Ikeja Electric has restricted its staff members from collecting cash from customers, threatening that defaulters would face the wrath of the law.

The Head of Corporate Communications, Felix Ofulue, in a statement, said the company is now operating an aggressive “Name & Shame” campaign where parties who engage in this act will face prosecution.

He therefore emphasized the company’s linesmen, engineers and technicians are not commissioned to receive cash payments of any kind from members of the public.

Ofulue said: “Basically, our linesmen should not collect reconnection fees, neither are our Energy Sales Representatives (ESR’s) permitted to receive bill payments on behalf of customers,”

He therefore urged all customers to resist efforts by any staff to extract monies from them illegally and also report the defaulters to the management.

He warned that customers who continued to make illegal payments to IE staff were not only doing so at their own risk, but were also sabotaging the efforts of Ikeja Electric to improve service delivery across her network.

Furthermore, Ofulue explained that the new payment options were designed to offer all customers security, greater convenience and choice, and also intended to make the payment process more efficient.

“By expanding our payment platforms, customers can now make payments and purchase tokens seamlessly by using scratch card vouchers, which are sold by vendors and agents across its networks; Quick teller which can be accessed on mobile devices and through internet banking on online banking portals” he added.

According to him, other payment channels include Pawakad, a mobile app payment system, which is managed by strategically located agents; Baxibox, commonly known as ‘Baba-Ijebu’; Point-of-Sales terminals as well as through Direct Bank Teller in any Zenith Bank branch.

Reacting to the issue of unauthorized technicians and electricians posing as IE linesmen, the company spokesman advised customers to ascertain the true identity of staff who call on them on behalf of Ikeja Electric by requesting to see their identity cards.

He stated that all authorized IE staff would normally display identity cards at all times and be correctly kitted in complete safety outfits, otherwise known as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).