Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), an electricity distribution company based in Lagos, says customers who fail to pay their bills will not be disconnected during the two-week stay-at-home period enforced to curb the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement released on Wednesday by Olusola Ayeni, the Corporate Communications officer of the company.
Ayeni said the decision to suspend all disconnection activities was taken to allow the customers of the Disco to enjoy electricity supply during the lockdown period, while giving consideration to those who cannot afford to pay their March 2020 bills due to the closure.
Folake Soetan, the Acting CEO of the company, said the Disco is committed to ensuring customers enjoy steady and quality supply throughout the lockdown period and beyond.
“We recognise the fact that electricity supply is critical to our ability to stay safe, clean and indoors. Therefore, we have 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,” She said.
Soetan said given that the company provides essential services, engineers and technicians will be available to clear all forced and unforced outages and continue the preventive maintenance programmes of the Disco.
She added that all employees on essential services would ensure customers get the best service throughout the lockdown period and urged customers to avoid giving monetary inducement to any employees while carrying out their duties.
“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,” Mrs Soetan said.
The Disco urged customers to observe precautionary measures and other safety protocols stipulated by government agencies and health organisations in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from the virus.
