NERC to Roll out Outage Reporting App for Electricity Consumers

James Sowole in Akure

The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said it will, within the next few weeks, roll out Outage Reporting App, to enable customers report power supply situation particularly outage in their area.

The Vice-Chairman of the NERC, Dr. Musiliu Oseni, disclosed this Wednesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during the inauguration of the commission’s Forum Office for the state.

The inauguration of the office, which will serve customers of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), is the 34th of such office in Nigeria.

Oseni, who said that the App would definitely integrate the system of the distribution company, added that the pilot of the facilities will start in Abuja.

He said: “Already, the App can be downloaded from the Google Play and Apple Store. For the pilot stage, we will be rolling it out and make it available to customers in Abuja to enable them make complaints if there is an outage.

“Immediately they do, that alert will be triggered at the distribution company’s end. After the pilot stage, we will now roll it out nationally so that the customers of the IBEDC will be able to benefit from the App.

“The commission is also leveraging on technology so that if you go to your IBEDC and they cannot solve your complaints, you can reach NERC through technology.

“If you come to the forum, they will look at your case, based on the rules and regulations that had been put in place by the commission and in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as Electrical Sector Reform Act.”

Oseni said the desire of NERC is to ensure that power supply in the country is stable, provided and delivered to the people’s satisfaction.

“We are all customers and we are all involved. It is in our interest the services are well delivered to satisfaction.

“The commission’s desire is to ensure that we operate and perform our regulatory oversight functions in line with international best practice and without discrimination. It is part of these aspirations that this particular forum office is being inaugurated today so that the customer can have the choice.

“Whenever they go to their supplier, which is the Electricity Distribution Plc, and feel that their complaints are not treated to their satisfaction, they have the choice to come to the forum office and lodge their complaints to be adjudged upon by the eminent personalities we have and together with the local communities to ensure that their complaints are well attended to.

“Looking at it today, electricity sector is facing a lot of challenges. Some of these challenges are not within the control of these utility providers but they are systemic problems that require some efforts of the policy makers, the regulatory side, customers and all well-meaning Nigerians so that we can achieve the desire of having electricity supply 24/7.

“We shall get there one day; it requires a lot workcand with sincerity of purpose from the side of all the players including customers.

“The issue of whistle blower is one thing that can be contributed by customers and others. The thing is if you see any customer bypassing their meters or doing illegal connection, indirectly or directly, you are affected.

“This is because if they are not able to make enough money, they would not be able to provide adequate infrastructure needed to provide services and serve you properly. You need to contribute your own quota. Please, if you see anybody connecting illegally, please report such person.

“Whenever customers have challenges, let them channel them to the Customer Care Unit of the distribution company. If they are not satisfied, they can come to the Forum Office and the people, who had been carefully selected from the community will sit on the complaint and resolve it.

“However, if the customers are not satisfied with the decision of the forum, they can come to Abuja,” Oseni stated.

According to the NERC vice-chairman, members of the forum were carefully selected from the community, based on their integrity and professional competence.

Members of the forum are the representatives of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr Adesanya Omoniyi; Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Michael Obiora; non-governmental organisations, Mr Kabiru Adisa; Nigeria Association Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mining and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr Adesanya Albert; and Federal Competition/Consumer Protection Commission, Dr Oluwatoyin Olatunde.

Oseni said a member of staff of the NERC, Mr Adeola Dhabi, shall serve as the Secretary of the Forum.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Commercial Officer of IBEDC, Mr. Deolu Ijose, said the company had set up various channels to receive and resolve customers’ complaints including through dedicated telephone line.

Ijose said the company in 2021, received over 40,000 calls from customers via the call centre, and 99 per cent of complaints lodged got first call resolution.

He said: “Across the franchise, we received 159,000 complaints and over 134,000 of those complaints were resolved. We have also introduced 62 customer care offices accross our franchise, 20 in Ogun region specifically to facilitate easier and quicker access to us.”

While imploring customers to take advantage of the established platforms to get their complaints resolved, he said with over two million customers spread across over five states, dissatisfaction are bound to happen.

He said most complaints are from customers who still see power as a social service and which had been generating controversy on regular basis due to Service Based Tariff (SBT) capping methodology.

Ijose said the inauguration of the NERC Forum Office in Ogun State, which will serve as an unbiased umpire, would provide avenue to resolve many complaints.

He said in spite of the challenges, the IBEDC is committed to providing excellent service for customers.