Irukera: FCCPC to Punish Operators over Breach of Electricity Regulations

James Emejo

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive, Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr. Babatunde Irukera, yesterday said the commission has resolved to henceforth punish Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) that fail to comply with extant rules and regulations in the industry.

He insisted that the commission is empowered by the Consumer Protection Act of 2018 to sanction and insist that things are done the right way in all sectors of the economy especially as it affects the protection of consumer rights.

Irukera also said poor service delivery in the electricity sector remained by far the highest category of complaints received by FCCPC thus prompting the commission to prioritise the industry.

He said the FCCPC Tribunal gives it the privilege to get a judgment on issues that “we feel that service providers or even regulators don’t address properly”.

Speaking at the opening of the 4-day Electricity Consumer Complaint Resolution Platform, holding in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, the FCCPC boss said though the exercise was not meant to stop happenings in the sector, it offers an opportunity for consumers to lodge their complaints and get them resolved immediately.

Represented by the FCCPC Executive Commissioner, Operations, Mr. Adamu Abdullahi, Irukera said, “You see, we encourage people to lodge complaints with service providers and it is only when these issues are not resolvable that they will come to the sector regulator before it now comes to the umbrella body of competition consumer protection which is the FCCPC.”

He told THISDAY, “What we are doing is that we are going all over the country looking at electricity distribution companies (Discos) and listening to consumer complaints. So this is a sort of a parley where consumers can come and lodge their complaints and this is done in partnership with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA).

“What we do is that we sit with consumers, listen to their complaints and try within the next three to four days to resolve all the complaints brought to us.”