- Electricity Consumers Lodged 109,048 Complaints in Three Months – NERC
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday that a total of 109,048 complaints were lodged by electricity customers to the power distribution companies in the third quarter of 2017.
Noting that the figure translated to an average of 1,185 complaints per day, NERC said 76 per cent of the complaints were resolved.
“Specifically, billing and metering constitute the major concerns for electricity customers in Nigeria, accounting for 60 per cent (65,428) of the total complaints received during the quarter under review,” it said in its latest quarterly report released on Tuesday.
The commission said the interruption of supply accounted for 21 per cent of the total customer complaints during the quarter, implying that one in every five customers was unsatisfied with the quality of supply from the grid.
The regulator said it had continued to monitor the complaint-handling and resolution process adopted by the Discos, adding that it had on a continuous basis monitored the operation of its Forum Offices set up “to adjudicate on consumers’ complaints that are not adequately resolved to the customers’ satisfaction by the customer care unit of the responsible Discos.”
According to the report, the Forum Offices perform the commission’s quasi-judiciary functions in redressing customers and operators’ unresolved disputes as enshrined in the NERC’s Customer Complaints Handling Standards and Procedures Regulation.
It said, “As of the end of the quarter under review, the commission had established a total of 20 Forum Offices and the commission’s strategic plan includes several regulatory initiatives towards addressing the issues that are of serious concern to the consumers, including metering and quality of service.
“During the year 2017, the Forum Offices received an average of 896 complaints per quarter from customers who were unsatisfied with Discos’ decision on their complaints. The Forum Offices nationwide conducted about 40 hearings per quarter based on the petitions received and an average of 547 cases heard per quarter.”
NERC said it had no new cases of litigations in the third quarter of 2017, but continued with 14 cases earlier reported in the first quarter of the year which had remained unresolved.
