An agency of the Nigerian Government vested with the responsibility of protecting consumers has promised to shield electricity subscribers from the excesses of distribution companies.
To achieve this, the agency known as Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, established what it referred to as the Electricity Consumer Complaint Resolution Platform to attend to subscribers in Cross River State, south-south Nigeria.
The platform, which deployed digital and human data collection strategy for the resolution of the myriads of electricity consumer complaints, would be open to the public for 4 days in Calabar before relocating to another area.
Hundreds of subscribers with the Port Harcourt electricity distribution company presented complaints ranging from outrageous estimated billings, wanton extortions, daring intimidation and sometimes outright fisticuffs.
A small business owner, Mrs. Thelma Bello said, “I am one of the millions, who have suffered from extortion in the hands of this disco. I spend 5,000 naira to buy the token for the prepaid metre in my house, but PHEDC will take a surcharge of 2,500, which is half of what I paid. Besides, at my business premises, PHEDC gave me a bill of more than 550 thousand naira to pay in three weeks. I am so pained and hope this is resolved.”
Speaking to the irked consumers and representatives of the disco, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Mr. Babatunde Irukera said “a platform like this should be an understanding channel where they can provide feedback to the service provider, and the service provider can be more responsive and sensitive to the needs of the consumer.
“All the complaints will be addressed. We got the PHEDC to bring a team of mediators to agree and resolve all the complaints. So, I am certain that over the next few days, hundreds of complaints would be resolved,” he said.
The Director General of the Cross River State Electrification Agency, SEA, described the challenges experienced by electricity consumers as alarming and damaging to small businesses, residents and others.
Akpo lamented that the distribution company was abdicating its responsibilities of providing infrastructure to the consumers and the state government while harvesting exorbitant profits through unwarranted billings without recourse to the sacrifices and expenses of the residents, who purchased the transformers, armoured cables and poles.
He averred, “I do not think there is anyone, who does not have issues with power at their homes. So, it is necessary that the platform, which is the first of its kind where issues can be brought to the fore in the presence of the regulators so they can x-ray their relationship with the consumers and the distribution companies.”
There were goodwill messages from the Assistant General Manager of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Mr. Effiom Ene and a representative of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, NEMSA as well as the representative of PHEDC, Mr. Collins Igwe.
Earlier, the team from FCCPC paid a courtesy visit to the governor of Cross River, Professor Ben Ayade, who commended the agency for facilitating a platform to resolve the complaints of electricity consumers in the state.
Dominica Nwabufo
