There were numerous complaints on over billing, community transformer issues, accounts reconciliations, energy capping, tariff, metering, billings before connection to a new building, and disconnection without notice amongst others, recorded against the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company at the recently concluded electricity consumer complaints resolution platform.
The event, which was organised by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation, ended on Saturday in Ikeja, Lagos, with a lot of angry electricity consumers in attendance, according to The Nation.
Commenting, the FCCPC’s Acting Director, Dr. Adamu Abdullahi said that the resolution forum must be organised because of the number of complaints received against 11 electricity distribution companies across the country.
Abdullahi said “We receive the highest complaints 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 Nasarawa, Benin, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Jos, Ibadan, Bauchi, and consumer complaints have largely been on overbilling, community transformer issues, accounts reconciliations, energy capping, tariff band classification, metering, billings before connection to a new building, disconnection without notice etcetera.
That is why we insist that all the stakeholders, like the National Electricity Regulation Commission, The Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency [NEMSA], which provides meter, and of course the concerned DISCOs, have to be present in the forums.”
In addition, the FCCPC’s Acting Director General said that DISCOs have not been forthcoming and this has led angry consumers to bring their cases before NERC and the FCCPC which is a last resort.
He continued “As you can see, these are very serious issues to the consumers and of course, they would like to have solutions.”
“We are here to resolve these issues and that is why we set aside four days to attend to the complaints,” adding that over the past three days, most of the complaints have been resolved. We will get commitment from the DISCOs on a time frame within which these complaints would be resolved because it is their core responsibility and not ours.
“The ones we cannot do here, we give timelines to the DISCOs, NERC, and NEMSA to ensure that the complaints are resolved, and if not we encourage the consumers to report to our offices where we have willing staff and the complaints the branch staff is not able to handle is escalated to the head office,” he noted.
Engineer Salami Oladokun, representing NEMSA, assured the FCCPC of his Agency’s readiness to continue to collaborate with them adding that NEMSA’s workforce usually goes around to monitor the meters.
In his address, Ikeja NERC Forum Secretary, Chukwunonso Okwuosah urged consumers to always attend such meetings with an open mind as he assured them that the matter would be dealt with following Government regulations.
Commending the FCCPC for organising such a forum, he noted it was a sure way to hear directly from the aggrieved customers.
Speaking, Head Government/Regulatory Ikeja Electric Plc, Jolaoluwa Adewale highlighted that since the Forum started sitting many consumers that came with complaints had gotten them resolved though acknowledging that many complaints were still outstanding.
She however appealed to them to exercise patience while promising that the DISCO will work on all the complaints brought to its notice.
She noted, “We will continue to be fair to our customers and also align and cooperate with the laws of the land.”
She thanked the FCCPC for hosting such a forum, saying that it has made them closer to their customers.
