Business

NERC commissions customers complaints office in Ilorin

 

…As IBEDC declares N2.5bn loss to energy monthly

By Matthew Denis

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has launched its Customers Complaints Forum office in Ilorin, Kwara State.

The event, which took place along Stadium road, Ilorin, was attended by stakeholders and customers from Osun, Oyo and Kwara states, last Wednesday.

Speaking at the ceremony, the NERC Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, Dr. Moses Arigu, said the event is significant because it indicates the responsiveness of the commission towards addressing the needs of the people to complaints resolution on electricity supply in Kwara and beyond.

“It is on record that within the period of January and September 2018 the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) recorded a significant number of unresolved complaints out of which 2,155 were made by customers within Ilorin and its environs. Majority of these complaints have been on voltage and billing issues.

“The members of the forum are representatives of all the customers classes including industrial, commercial, residential as well as professional bodies such as Customers Protection Council, Nigeria Society of Engineers and civil society groups.

According to him, the Ibadan office had received 375 complaints cases of which 245 were resolved amicably between July and September, 2018

He revealed that the present metering gap in Ibadan Discos is about 1million when compared to its total customer size of about 1,600,000 customers representing a 60 percent deficit in metering.

Arigu noted that the commission has directed all Discos to carry out customers enumeration in their domains by March 31,2019 to get a feedback in terms of operations and service rendered.

The Commissioner however appealed to customers not to be hostile to IBEDC staff and should not  tamper with equipment.

The Chief Commercial Officer of IBEDC, Mr. Deolu Ijose who decried the increasing rate  of vandalism of electricity installations, stressed that it is not peculiar to Kwara.

He said the company is collaborating with security agencies to curb all vandals activities.

“Don’t forget that discos don’t have so much money therefore the little we have we are investing it in infrastructure rather than replacing it. We are losing a huge amount of money to vandals.

Ijose noted that they are losing about N2.5 billion to energy as the minimum expense on monthly basis without adding running cost.

Also Speaking, the Permanent Secretary Kwara State Ministry of Energy, Mohammed Katsina Ahmed charged the commission to attend to complaints from customers promptly without delay.

He also called for  expansion of branch offices to both Kwara south and north senatorial districts to have access to more communities in the state.

 

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