A former employee of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC), Lawrence Okeke, has been arrested for allegedly bypassing and tampering with prepaid meters for the EEDC customers in Onitsha.
He was accused of replacing original meter sensors with fake ones, which enabled him to bypass the meters and prevent them from accurately recording customers consumption.
The illegal activity resulted in significant revenue loss for the distribution company. EEDC in a statement on July 11, said the company’s Meter Monitoring Team discovered the fraud during a routine inspection, following a tip-off from a whistleblower.
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At one of the customer’s premises visited at Bida Road, Onitsha they discovered that the meter was bypassed and the original meter sensor removed & replaced with the fake one.
While the team interrogated the customer who already admitted their findings, the customer gave out the identity and contact of the individual that performed the bypass as Lawrence Okeke who happens to be an ex-staff of EEDC