By Stephen Adeleye.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said its decision to establish a customer complaint forum in Lokoja was in response to the rising complaints of poor service delivery by electricity consumers.
The Chairman of the NERC, Prof. James Momoh, who stated this on Wednesday in Lokoja during the maiden edition of the forum said there were 2,165 unresolved complaints from consumers in Lokoja alone from January to September.
He said that the forum will address the complaints and other issues that had been militating against quality service delivery to electricity consumers from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.
“Majority of these complaints have been on voltage and billing issues. This excludes complaints made and forwarded through other channels,” he said.
According to him, the commission has introduced measures to accelerate metering through the Meter Asset Provider Regulation of 2018 and close monitoring of meter roll out plan of distribution companies.
The Chairman, however, commended the AEDC for the implementation of its meter roll-out plan as agreed with the Federal Government.
He said the roll-out plan would add 150,000 meters into its network annually over the next five years.
Momoh charged members of the forum to approach their task with equity, fairness and justice in dealing with complaints before them.
Members of the forum are representatives of customers , civil society groups and professional bodies drawn from Lokoja and its environs.
Mr Ernest Mupwaya, Managing Director of AEDC, said the company just invested N10 billion to address the problem of inadequate metering of consumers.
He said that the consumer forum would help provide guidance for customers to know the various steps to take when they have complaints.
“It is expected that customers’ complaints from Kogi State will now be handled from Lokoja, with potentials for speedy resolution of complaints that will come from this area,” Mupwaya said.
In his remarks, Gov. Yahaya Bello, said that challenges posed by poor power supply were numerous in spite of the state’s strategic importance to the country.
Bello, who was represented by his Commissioner for education, Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, lamented that the state had not been having its fair share in the allocation of power.
“Kogi hosts one of the Transmission Companies, and it is expected that the state should not be faced with the challenges of power supply,” Bello said.
The governor, however, restated his commitment to continue to collaborate with the AEDC and other stakeholders to ensure that the people of Kogi enjoy regular power supply.
(NAN)
