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".