MEET THE STAFF SERIES

Meter Bypass, A Major Impediment To Our Revenue Collection 

 CCD: Please can you briefly tell us about yourself.

SOO: My name is Solomon Ochada Omaye, the Senior Marketing Supervisor (SMS) for Makera Area Office. I joined the Company in September 2015 as a Sales Rep and by December 2015 I was made a Supervisor of a Service Center and from then on it has been from one supervisory role to another- either in acting capacity or substantive. But I am currently the SMS for Makera Area Office.

CCD: As a Senior Marketing Supervisor what has been your experience so far?

SOO: It has been both a challenging and an interesting one. In all of this, I have acquired more knowledge about the business, which I gathered as a result of the challenges on how to improve cash collections and the ability to surmount those challenges. 

Thankfully, the collections have improved; I mean comparatively there has been some percentage increases from when I joined and now. This is in spite of the challenges.

Working with a large number of people I think is the interesting part of the whole process because I have met people of diverse backgrounds and ideas, which we have harnessed in achieving the organizational goals.
CCD: What are the responsibilities of an SMS in the company?

SOO: Basically, the responsibilities of an SMS in the company and Makera Area Office in particular, is to coordinate the marketing activities of the Area Office, to coordinate activities with other units in relation to the Head Office. It involves ensuring that collections improve, identifying   what can hamper cash collection, supervising all the staff (Supervisors and Sales Reps) to ensure that they are doing what is expected of them. For instance, I must ensure that they have up-to-date data on customer enumeration, regular update of customers information, and to ensure that energy received is accounted for. 
CCD: It has been said that cash collection can be daunting, could you comment on this?SOO: Yes, it is and the challenges are many. Meters by-pass is one of the many challenges we are facing because after bill distribution, from the analysis we have made, we found out that it is the PPM customers that bring about a drop in the collections we make. Another major challenge is the logistics- limited working tools and vehicles for our operations. A service center might have just one vehicle to work with for a day and by the following day the vehicle might have developed a fault. 

The ladders are insufficient, we need them during cash collections; this also makes the cash collection process difficult.
CCD: How do you now surmount these challenges to ensure that they don't get in the way of cash collection?

SOO: First things first, as the popular saying goes: "a happy customer is a paying customer" so we ensure that we satisfy our customers by meeting their needs and resolving their complaints. Also, in Makera we started the new billing methodology as recommended by NERC where we take a load assessment of customers to ensure that they are properly billed. This strategy has helped us to some extent because when a customer is properly billed based on load assessment he is a happy customer and he will be willing to pay his bill promptly.

We also organized a local task force to go out on weekly and daily bases to ensure that meters are not circumvented even those that are circumvented are reported to further improve our collection. 

We are encouraging the use of bill trackers by our Sales Reps, to enable us keep track on performance on a daily basis by comparing what a customer has paid and what the same customer was billed for that month. This method of tracking bills and comparing it to what was paid is also paying off.

CCD: What other strategies do you think the company should adopt to improve revenue collections?

SOO: You know 'Performance Monitoring' is key; if you are not able to track the performance of a particular Sales Reps or Service Center, of course everybody will just be working without directions. That why I strongly recommend that 'Performance Monitoring' should be put in place.

Then another strategy is to give out adequate and timely information to customers; there is need for us to do more public enlightenment programmes. Then community sensitization too, which is very key especially in an area like Makera and Tudun Wada, where we have a lot of slums. Indeed companywide, it is important to hold sensitization and town hall meetings to discuss with consumers why bills have to be paid.

CCD: What is the total number of your customers in Makera area office?

SOO: In this area office we have 53,000-54,000, that's inclusive of PPM and non-PPM customers.

CCD: How do you get your staff to work as a team?

SOO: We have a social media platform; we also use emails to pass information from supervisors down to Sales Reps.

 In cases where the Sales Reps are not acting on the instructions or information given, they can be called for briefings.

CCD: Any word to management or staff?

SOO: If we put our heads together as a team and management is able to provide the needed support, performance will improve. Then for staff, we all have to endeavor to be good ambassadors of the company.