Electricity: Discos Under Fire As Outages Worsen

from that sector, and the same complaints from different parts of the country.

“Since the past months, we have been touring all over the country holding the same resolution forum as the one we are having now.

“We have been to Nassarawa, Benin, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Jos, Ibadan, Bauchi and consumer complaints have largely been on over-billing, community transformer issues, accounts reconciliations, energy capping, tariff band classification, metering, billings before connection to a new building, disconnection without notice, et cetera.

“That is why we insist that all the stakeholders, like the National Electricity Regulation Commission [NERC], the Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency [NEMSA] which provides meter, and of course the concerned DisCos have to be present in the forums.”

Abdullahi accused the DisCos of not being forthcoming on the allegations against them.

He added: “As you can see, these are very serious issues to the consumers and, of course, they will like to have solutions,” he said.

“We are here to resolve these issues, and that is why we set aside four days to attend to the complaints,” he added, noting that over the past three days, most of the complaints have been resolved.

“The ones we cannot do here, we give timelines to the DisCos, NERC and NEMSA to ensure that the complaints are resolved. If not, we encourage the consumers to report to our offices where we have willing staff and the complaints the branch staff are not able to handle is escalated to the head office.”

Engr. Salami Oladokun, representing NEMSA, assured the FCCPC of his agency’s readiness to continue to collaborate with them, adding that NEMSA’s workforce usually go round to monitor the meters.

Speaking, Mr. Chukwunonso Okwuso, Forum Secretary Ikeja NERC Forum, appealed to consumers to always attend such forums with open minds, emphasising that no matter how long the issues had lingered, it will be resolved according to laid out government regulations.

Commending the FCCPC for organising such a forum, he noted it was a sure way to hear directly from the aggrieved customers.

In her remarks, Jolaoluwa Adewale, Head, Government/Regulatory Ikeja Electric Plc, noted that since the forum started sitting, many consumers who came with complaints had got them resolved, though he acknowledged that many complaints were still outstanding.

She however appealed to them to exercise patience while promising that the DisCo would work on all the complaints brought to its notice.

An elderly customer, Mr. Anthony Chukwuemeka Iteghate, said he paid N65,000 for a meter since last August but had not received any.

He said that all his visits and complaints to the Ikeja electricity company yielded no result.

“They have not given me any meter and have not refunded my money. Since last year, I have been staying without electricity. Their response to me is that there is no meter,” he said.

Source:- Thenationonlineng