OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The eleven electricity distribution companies or Discos operating in the country received 230,497 complaints from customers in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a newly released report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.
The figure indicates a 5.26% increase in the number of complaints received in the third quarter of 2020.
According to the NERC Q4 2020 report, the Discos, in the period under review, attended to 215,940 complaints, representing an increase of 5.41 percent over the preceding quarter’s figures.
A review of the customers complaint statistics indicated that metering, billing, and service interruption were the most significant areas of concerns for customers, accounting for 63.60% or 146,585 of the total complaints in the quarter under review.
While delayed connection accounted for 5.38% of the complaints, disconnection accounted for 8.86%’; load shedding, 7.16%; billing, 17.57%; metering, 31.19%; voltage 7.65%; interruptions, 14.84%; and others, 7.36%.
To ensure improved customer service delivery, NERC said it continued to monitor and audit customers’ complaint handling and resolution by Discos.
The commission also said it continuously monitors the operation and efficiency of its Forum Offices which were set up to redress consumers’ complaints not adequately
resolved to the customers’ satisfaction by the responsible Discos.
At the Forum Offices, a total of 1,956 complaints were received during 2020/Q4 (including the pending complaints from 2020/Q3) from customers who were dissatisfied with the decision of Discos on their complaints.
About 59.20% of the 1,956 complaints lodged at Forum Offices were resolved either through formal hearings or preliminary engagements between the Forum Secretaries and the concerned Discos.
The Forum panels had a total number of 36 sittings during the quarter.
Similar to the categories of complaints received by the Discos, billing and metering issues dominated the category of complaints received by the Forum Offices.
This implies that billing and metering issues were mostly the complaints not satisfactorily resolved by Discos’ Complaints Handling Units, CCU, in 2020/Q4.
The report showed that Ibadan Disco, followed by Benin Disco, had the lowest customers’
complaints resolution rates based on the proportion of complaints not addressed in the fourth quarter of 2020.
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