NERC committed to addressing customers’ complaints, lack of meters – Official

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC) says it is committed to excellent service delivery by addressing customers’ complaints, especially the issue of lack of electricity meters.

Hajia Aisha Mahmud, the Commissioner, Consumer Affairs of NERC, made the assertions in Ibadan on Tuesday at a Town Hall meeting organised by the commission.

Mahmud said that the commission organised the programme to enlighten customers on their rights and duties, as well as, resolve their complaints.

She said the NERC would continue to do all it could to see that consumers a
were satisfied with the services they received from the utility.

“We are trying our best to see that all consumers of electricity in Nigeria are metered.

“It is a fundamental change and one of the challenges that must be surmounted,” Mahmud said.

She said that various initiatives had been rolled out by the government, while the Discos too could partner with the investors to make mass metering possible.

Mahmud traced the history of electricity and said that the country should have moved further from 5,000 megawatts of available generation with installed capacity of 13,000 megawatts, noting that only a fraction of that gets to the end users.

She identified gas as one of the limiting factors, adding that a number of interventions had been put in place.

Also, Mr Kingsley Achife, the Managing Director, IBEDC, said there were bound to be relational issues between IBEDC and its customers due to lack of understanding or not engaging properly or from bad eggs within the organisation, taking advantage of the situation.

The IBEDC chief said that on the issue of electricity, what was needed to serve the community was about 20,000 megawatts.

“What the company has been receiving from the national grid was less than 400 megawatts.

He noted that unavailability of enough power to go round had been the basis of complaints alongside other constraints.

Achife highlighted infrastructure issues, investment issues and other kinds of things, saying that the company had started employing a series of solutions, including partnerships to serve the underserved better.

She noted the effects of insecurity which had been causing migration from North to South, thereby increasing the numbers of new buildings springing up and affecting electricity distribution.

Achife said there was the need for more infrastructure to support and strengthen the existing facilities.

She noted the efforts of the government in supporting the Discos. (NAN)