Kaduna Electric Frontline August Edition

MD’s Outstanding Performance Award:

We are Greatly Motivated to Give Our Best - Area Manager Makera.

CCD: We would like to start by congratulating you for emerging the winner of MD's award for outstanding performance for July 2022, how do you feel having emerged as the winner?

JU:  Words cannot express how I feel, but I am grateful to God Almighty. I also thanked the Managing Director and the entire Management team for the confidence reposed in me by giving me this prestigious award. I feel greatly honoured.

CCD: What exactly are you doing differently in your Area Office?

JU: We take the Company's core values seriously, we track all processes end to end; from cash collections to resolution of customer complaints and fault clearing. We adopts smart goals, SWART analysis and data driven decision making in our daily operation.

We also consider the last week of the preceding month and the first week of the succeeding month as highly strategic to our revenue generation exercise. We ensure that every customer is visited within this period. In this regard, a defaulters list is generated and handed to the service centres to enable us engage these customers while they have the cash at hand. 

With the benefit of hindsight, we realised that in the last week of the month, salary earners receive their salaries and in the 1st week, business people have collected their debts from the salary earners. This process has helped us improve our customer's mentality to pay before our disconnection notice. Consequently, the customers’ response rate has been improving month in month out.

We have also segmented our customer base (green/yellow/red) to know customers who need engagement, who need ladder and those determined to steal the energy no matter what, allowing us to focus on the stubborn customers till they become yellow and hopefully green

The 2nd and 3rd weeks are for intensive ppm monitoring and customer base sanitation. An Area Office Task Force operates weekly to help with the push.

The primary goal is to increase customer payment count and eventually amount paid, month on month.  

CCD:  You are one of the experienced AM in the company, how has the experience been and what are the secret behind your success?

JU: There is no secret to success apart from balancing working SMART and HARD, seeing challenges as opportunities to improve. But I would add that one must operate with a high level of integrity and discipline to succeed in our industry. Focus on the energy(KWH) and how to get back the naira value while reducing the ATC&C losses.

CCD: In what way will the award motivates you for more outstanding performances?

JU: This award is not just for me alone but for the entire team and we are motivated to do more and be guided not to drop the standard. This award is a clear sign that there is a reward for hard work. We shall continue to remain focus and work as a formidable team for greater success.

CCD: In order of importance, what are the five (5) KPIs of an Area Manager, and how can you assess your performance against the KPIs?

JU:

a.       REDUCTION OF ATC&C LOSSES

b.       MEETING MONTHLY COLLECTION TARGET

c.      ALL NEW CUSTOMERS MUST BE CAPTURED BEFORE SERVICE IS             PROVIDED

d.       FAULT CLEARANCE INDEX (RATIO) (TOTAL FAULT CLEARED / TOTAL FAULTS REPORTED)

e.       ALIGNMENT OF ALL CONNECTED PPM CUSTOMERS TO THEIR DT

At the risk of sounding immodest, I think the MD’s outstanding Award is an eloquent testimony that we are doing well against the KPIs. We are greatly motivated to give our best in months to come.

CCD: Makera Area Office is one of the cash cows of the Company, what are the challenges, and how do you intend to ensure sustainable growth in revenue?

JU: Honestly, there are a lot of challenges from aging transformers to meters, not to mention energy theft from PPM /NPPM customers, also difficult/violent customers but we are equal to the task.

a.  We constantly review our PPM non-vending and low vending list to visit those customers and identify reasons why.

b.  Train our staff especially the SRs on negotiation skills and to be customer-centric

c.  Aggressive debt recovery due to the low cap energy

CCD: Why are we finding it difficult as a Company to reduce our ATC&C losses to an acceptable level?

JU: We need to put a lot of infrastructures in place from DT meters to replacement of aged meters/DTS and provide incentives to staffs/customers who help in reporting energy theft. We need to have a robust whistle blowing policy that incentify and reward staff/customers who help in checkmating energy theft and other infractions by members of the public.

CCD: As an AM, you have the responsibility of managing both your subordinates and the customers, how are you dealing with the two responsibilities?

JU: Teamwork is the KEY. I carry everyone along and connect with them to the best of my abilities, it's important to meet everyone at their own level if you want the best out of them.

CCD: It is strongly believed that for the company to remain afloat we should be generating between 6-10-billion-naira revenue monthly, what strategy or suggestions can you give to enable us to attain this target?

JU: Constant growth and energy accountability, constant growth in terms of revenue collections (ensuring all new/ illegal customers are captured), carrying out debt recovery, smart monitoring of PPMs using vending history, and checking the incoming and outgoing Amps to mention a few. While we work on constantly improve with the available resources, the management would have to provide the necessary enablers (basic working tools).

CCD: With the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you did in the past that you will do otherwise if a similar situation presents itself today?

JU: There is always room for improvements in all areas of life, even our last month's performance for example.

CCD: What is your message to staff?

JU: The best is yet to come; keep pushing.

CCD: Who is James Usman and what brings out the best in him?

JU: A simple hard-working man, always willing to learn and share best practices with his team. Providing the necessary leadership and motivation to my team brings out the best in me.