Billing, Tariff Band, Metering top Customer Complaints in Q2 NERC Report

By ruth MALAGU

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says it received 4,469 Complaints in Second Quarter, 2024 through the Customer Complaint Unit.

The Commission said this on its Website in its Second Quarter 2024 Report.

The Report said that 1,000 of the Complaints were resolved corresponding to a 22.38 per cent Resolution Rate.

It said that Customers of Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) lodged 1,704 and 1,052 Complaints accounting for 38.13 per cent  and 23.54 per cent  respectively.

“Conversely, Aba Power had 16 and this accounted for the lowest number of Complaints representing 0.36 per cent.

“During the Quarter, Customer Complaints about Billing constituted 30.90 per cent of the Total Complaints.

“Other common Issues among the 4,469 Complaints received were Complaints about Tariff Band amounting to 24.70 per cent.

“Service interruption represented 17.92 per cent of the Complaints, Metering represented 17.72 per cent and these four Complaints Categories cumulatively accounted for 91.25 per cent of the Total Complaints in the Quarter,‘’ it said.

The Report said that the Complaints on Billing that were resolved during the Quarter resulted in a Credit Adjustment on Customers’ Bills to the tune of N134.127bn.

“The Commission notes the poor Resolution Rate of 22.38 per cent of Complaints lodged at the NERC-CCU in  Quarter 2 and is taking steps to improve the speediness of Complaints Resolution by DisCos, ‘’ it said.

The Report also said that 2, 625 active appeals were received consisting of  905 pending Appeals in Quarter 1 and 1,720 new Appeals in Quarter 2 across the NERC 32 Forum Offices.

It said that the Appeal represents 8.07 per cent increase compared to the 2,429 Active Appeals in the previous Quarter 1.

“Compared to Quarter 1, the pending Appeals carried over in the Second Quarter increased by 129 representing 16.62 per cent, while new Appeals increased by 67 amounting to 4.05 per cent.

“The Forum Office serving Ibadan DisCo have the highest number of Active Appeals of 717  while the Forum Office serving Yola DisCo has the fewest Appeals of  eight in the Quarter under Review,” it said.

The Report said that the Total Number of Forum Sittings in the Quater under Review increased by 4.17 per cent from 72 Sittings in First Quarter to 75.

“Cumulatively, the Forum Offices recorded a decrease of 2.65 in Appeal Resolution Rate between Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 representing 57.55 per cent vs. 54.90 per cent.

“The decrease in Complaint Resolution Rate despite an increase in Forum Sitting can be attributed to the number of Active Appeals during the Quarter under Review compared to Quarter 1,” it said .

The Report said that the Commission would continue to put in more effort to ensure that the Forum Panels sit regularly to increase the Resolution Rate and reduce the number of pending Appeals carried over across Quarters. 

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