The landlord sitting at the entrance to the PHEDC office

By Okafor Ofiebor

There was drama at the office of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc ,PHEDC, Office in Ogbunabali area of the oil city on Thursday morning as the owner of the building locked out the staff and customers of the electricity company over non-payment of rent for six months.

Our correspondent reports that PHED has not paid the rent for the building since December 2020 and efforts of the landlord  whose name this magazine has not been able to conform as at the time of writing to get payment  did not yield fruit.

While the lockup of the office lasted, staff of the electricity firm were forced to attend to customers sitting in their vehicles.

Staff attending to customers inside their vehicles while the lock up of their office lasted

However, the company, in a public statement signed Chioma Aninwe its spokesman,  attributed the lockout to a “communication gap”. She added that the issue has since been completely resolved.

“Our Ogbum-na-abali office is now open and normal business activities are ongoing.

“We apologize for the difficulties you may have experienced while trying to access the office for complaint resolution and other related issues,” Chioma Aninwe said.

See the full statement below::

Dear Customer

We acknowledge the unfortunate incident that occurred this morning premised on communication gap.

Kindly be informed that the issue has since been completely resolved.

Our Ogbum-na-abali office is now open and normal business activities are ongoing.

We apologize for the difficulties you may have experienced while trying to access the office for complaint resolution and other related issues.