Meet the Staff Series

 Timely Payment of Bills Goes Hand in Hand With Timely Bill Delivery….. Tubolaifa Opufou

CCD: Tell us a bit about yourself?

TO: I am Tubolaifa Opufou, an indigene of Delta State, born in Kaduna State: had my primary and secondary education in Kaduna State. I have a Higher National Diploma in Business Administration and Management from Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi and a Master’s Degree in Accounting & Finance from Ahmedu Bello University, Zaria.

Tubolaifa Opofou Premium Unit

I have worked with a Commercial Bank for five years before joining Kaduna Electric in 2015. I have been privileged to serve in the capacity of Service Center Manager for 11KV Village and 11KV Pama Service Centers respectively both in Barnawa Area Office and presently in Premium Customers Unit. I have managed customers in the premium space of Barnawa Area Office for a good working period and I was recently reassigned to manage premium customers in Rigasa Area Office for both Public and Private sectors.

I appreciate team work and believe in the word “we not I”, which is my motto for career growth.

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

TO: A normal working day for me and my colleagues in MD unit begins with a work -to-do schedule that guide us on activities to do for the day, these activities are been determined by the period of the month we are in as they range from meter reading, bill delivery, customers engagement and revenue drive activities, etc, while customer correspondence are usually a regular activity irrespective of the time of the month.

CCD: The maximum demand customers are the cash cow of the company, what are the challenges inherent in handling this class of customers.?

TO: The customers are highly rated group of customers in Kaduna Electric thus handling them goes with high level of professionalism with a full knowledge of what we sell. In handling the Premium Customers, one must have all the facts and present them logically without an iota of doubt. They are always interested in the details.

CCD: What is the average monthly billing of the customers you cover and what is your average collection efficiency?

TO: My average monthly billing is Nineteen Million Naira with an average collection efficiency of 95%.

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

TO: Timely payment of bills goes hand in hand with timely bill delivery. I ensure bills are delivered within the shortest time frame of delivery after which I start engaging my customers and reminding them of the stipulated payment due date. Customer Relationship Management is my guiding tool for payment especially with what we sell- electricity service.

CCD: How do you deal with defaulting customers?

TO: Defaulting customers exist in all groups of customers within Kaduna Electric and customers within the premium space as the most difficult to manage since they are in a well rated category.

As a Relationship Officer that I am, I follow the approach of engaging them first with physical discussions having done reminders on payment due date, where this does not yield positive response in terms of payment; which in most cases it does; the unit issues disconnection notice to those that refused to comply.

The disconnection document usually prompts additional response for payment where we have cases of non-compliance; the unit is left with no option of going with Regulatory guidelines to suspend supply for such customer which usually is the last resort for a defaulting customer.

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

TO: Cashless policy is a welcomed innovation to Maximum Demand Customers having more options to make electronic payment from the comforts of their offices which relieves them of the stress of visiting any of Kaduna Electric Offices for payment. 

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

TO: For Colleagues, I will appeal we all continue to have an Entrepreneurial Mind-Set in our work activities daily.

For Management, job rotation should be encouraged where necessary to reduce job monotony and boredom over a long period of same job description, staff placement on job role/description can be improved to get the best input from each staff and staff self-development should be encouraged and rewarded.