MEET THE STAFF SERIES

 The Electronic Payment Channels Provided by The Company is  timely and a good step in the right direction….

CCD: Tell us a bit about yourself?

JB: I am Engr. Jamila Badaru. Born in Kaduna. An Electrical/Electronics Engineer with a B.Eng. from A.T. B. U Bauchi. I have a Post Graduate Diploma in Production & Operations Management and Masters in Industrial and Labour Relations. I am a 

Jamila Badaru

 

Registered Engineer (COREN), Corporate Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (MNSE) and a Customer Service Professional. Although an Engineer, I have special interests in Customer Relationship and Management. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a colleague and a friend to some beautiful people. I love to read, write and draw and I am a student of Comparative Religion. 

CCD: How does a normal working day look like for you and your colleague in the MD Unit?

JB: A normal working day in MD Unit is 

actually very interesting. Knowing the weight on our shoulders and how vital our job role is in meeting the overall organizational target, we usually hit the ground running. Our monthly activity is typically divided into meter reading, billing, bill delivery, cash drive and where necessary disconnection. What we would be doing on a normal day depends largely on the time of the month. However, customer complaint handling is an everyday thing. A setback on any of these activities affects the overall collection of the unit. What this means is that all of these activities must be done at the precise time or else the collection suffers. So, time is of the essence for us in Premium Unit.

CCD: The Maximum Demand customers are the cash cow of the Company, what are the challenges inherent in handling this class of customers.?

JB: The key thing to note about MD customers is that they are the most informed of all the customer classes. They know exactly what they want and how they want it. In handling this class of customers, you have to know your onions and be a step ahead at all times. Be courteous, be respectful, know your product, understand the customer's needs, devise innovative solutions to meet and exceed customer's needs but while doing all of the aforementioned, remember that we are a business and not a charity organization. We are in this to make enough to settle Market and all other Obligations and still make profit. The Company- customer relationship should be mutually beneficial. 

CCD: How do you ensure that your customers respond to payment on time?

JB: Timely delivery of bills is the first step in ensuring Premium Customer's payment response. Our customers are mostly corporate organizations, industries, banks, Federal and State governments and the Military etc. Their bills usually go through some processes before funds are released for the payment from their various Head Offices at Lagos, Abuja, Kano etc. After the timely distribution of bills, we then deploy our own internal Premium Unit strategies in line with standard best practices to ensure payment is made for energy consumed and we push for debt recovery. We also try to resolve and close customer complaints to avoid the use of unresolved complaints as an excuse to defer payment or not to settle outstanding payments

CCD: How do you deal with defaulting customers?

JB:  Defaulting customers are engaged using every customer relationship management strategy. If this fails, we issue disconnection notice. In the event that the disconnection notice yields no positive result, we follow regulatory guidelines for disconnection and disconnect the customer.  In some cases where we need to recover huge debts from difficult customers, we escalate to the Legal Department. 

CCD: How well has the maximum demand customers accepted the cashless policy prescribed by the Regulator early last year?

JB: The Maximum Demand customers fully embraced the Cashless Policy prescribed by the Regulator last year. In fact, our customers were clamouring for it before it was prescribed. The Policy was timely and a good step in the right direction for both the Company and its Premium customers. In this time of electronic advancement, subjecting our esteemed Premium Customers to Long and endless queues just to make payment is not ideal. 

CCD: Any suggestion or appeal to the staff or management?

JB: To the staff I say, " No be dia company o, na our Company, if the Company goes down, we go down with it”. To the Management, I say "..until there's a fair and equal treatment of all staff, only then will things truly change".

 

Newsletter for the Month of November, 2021

 

 

Kebbi North Area Office Foster Strong Partnership with QXK Engineering Services, Sensitise Team Members.

By Najib Atuwo, Kebbi

The Management of Kebbi North Area Office has held a one day seminar on Synergy and strategic partnership between the QXK Engineering Services and Kaduna Electric in Kebbi North Area Office.

 The one-day seminar, held at the multipurpose hall of Adamu Augie College of Education, Argungu, had in attendance, the officials of both Kaduna Electric and QXK Engineering Services respectively.

In his opening remarks, the Area Manager, Kebbi North Area Office, Mr. Bashir Abdulmalik stated the reasons that necessitated the seminar was to create more synergy and better understanding of the objective of the partnership between the two parties.

In his words, “today we all gathered here to talk and educate ourselves on the operations of our great  company, we need to have synergy that will enable both of us achieve the desired goals and move the company forward”.

According to him, “QXK Engineering has been a very good partner to Kaduna Electric, and today, we called on you to keep on the good work you have been doing and we will always be there to support your operations in the Area Office,” he said.

In his contribution, the QXK boss, Engr. Mustapha Muhammad Kofar Marke, thanked the Area Manager for deeming it fit to organize the knowledge sharing session.

He however stated that Kebbi North as a new Area Office has a huge task ahead in terms of revenue generation and pledged the readiness of his team to work with Kaduna Electric team hand in hand to make sure the revenue is improved.

He solicited for support and cooperation in lifting the Area Office to greater height and to be the best in terms of revenue collection.

While giving his closing remarks, Engr. Umar Sani Argungu, the Regional Coordinator Zamfara and Zaria appreciated the organizers for organizing the seminar to refresh the memories of our staff on the mode of operations of the company and the challenges before the newly created Area Office.

Furthermore Engr. Umar Sani also charged both parties to tightened up their belts for the tasks ahead.

 Corporate Intelligence Team Undergo Training on Load Assessment.

By Jamila Bala

In an effort to educate as well as motivate the team members of Corporate Intelligence Unit, the OD&D Unit organizes load assessment and the uses of its application, billing process and energy theft detection techniques training to all the Corporate Intelligence Team members within Kaduna.

The training was aimed at equipping the staff with the requisite knowledge on load assessment and its applications, understanding the billing process and energy theft detection techniques so as to make them more committed to the company as well as to put discretionary effort into their duties.

Electrical load assessment is the fundamental part of Energy Management, it involves listing of all electricity consuming equipment in a facility, everything from lighting bulb to expensive equipments.

The Head, OD&D, Mrs Adeola Akanni, while declaring open a training programme, charged the participants to accord the training the importance it deserves as more shall be expected from them after the training.

 “The objective of the training is to make the employees to understand the billing process of the company, theft detection techniques how to take the load assessment and the uses of its applications”, she said.

According to her, “when employees are well trained on their field and they know how well to use the load assessment application, they are more likely to be more active in their work and they do more which leads to a higher quality work and productivity’’. 

 Kaduna Electric Commits to Safety of Personnel and Equipment, Trains Technical Staff on Power Relay Protection.

By Jamila Bala

 In the continued determination of the Company to ensure the safety of lives and equipment, a week long training has been organized for the technical staff on the basic power relay protection.

 The protective relay training, code named P1, shall provide the participants with basic guidelines for relay application and settings calculation.

 The P1 course will enhance the technical know-how of the unit personnel with regards to safe guarding the Company’s assets as well as reducing unnecessary and prolong outages and averting accidents.

 

 

Chief Strategy and Business Excellence Bags Anti-Corruption Crusader Award

 By Rukaiya Muhammad

 The NYSC Anti-corruption CDS group has awarded the Anti-Corruption Crusader Award to the Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Mahmud Suleiman.

 In a brief ceremony held at the Corporate Headquarters on Wednesday, Dr. Mahmud Suleiman described the award as a tonic to re-affirms his commitment to the campaign against corruption.

This also means that the NYSC Anti-corruption CDS group appreciates our determination to stem the negative effects of corruption on the country’s development.

 

Meet The Staff Series

 

 

We Enhance Data Integrity in the Company Through Proper Access Authorization…Abdullahi M Kabir

 

Abdullahi M Kabir ( ICT Dept)

 

CCD: Can we have your brief profile?

AMK: My name is Abdullahi M Kabir, I have MSc in Business Information System with Concentration in networking. I joined Kaduna Electric in 1^st September 2015. I have worked in the Billing Department but I am presently a team member in the Data Centre of ICT department.

CCD: What does your job role entails?

AMK: My job role entails management and administration of Data Centre facility room to ensure all services are accessed by authorized personnel e.g internet access, SharePoint, key change for meter reactivations etc.

CCD: In what way does your job add valve to the Company?

AMK: The internet is today among the significant services needed to have access to information and communication. My job is to make sure that internet service within the company is up and running with required access authorizations based on Kaduna Electric policies.

 As earlier mentioned, the Data Centre Team also manages the SharePoint app that enable automation of certain processes in the Company; we ensure that the App is functional at all time. My team also ensure that key change are generated whenever demanded for customer’s use. This ensures that customers meters are timely activated.

CCD: How do we enhanced the integrity of data in the Company?

AMK: We enhance the integrity of data in the Company through proper access level authorization and getting the operating systems required from reliable service providers.

CCD: ICT is today the driving force in businesses and other corporate organization, what areas of ICT do you think Kaduna Electric should do more?

AMK: Kaduna electric should invest more in ICT because it makes business more effective and ensures prompt respond to customers needs. ICT can assist business processes and activities, including design, automation of key company processes, distribution and sales. And they should invest on employees to help them work efficiently which will allow them concentrate effectively on their job roles.

CCD: What are the challenges you are facing?

AMK: The major challenges that we are having is the provision of training for up-to-date Data Centre best practices and cloud computing.

CCD: Any appeal or suggestion to the Management and staff?

AMK: I appeal to the Management for considerations, especially for staff training and provisions of up-to-date equipment and for the staff let us do our work diligently in achieving the company objectives.