NEWS UPDATE: FEDERAL COMPETITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION COMMISSION PARTNERS WITH NIGERIAN ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION TO ADDRESS ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS’ COMPLAINTS.
By: Nneka Oduada Eze (Esq)
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to resolve the incessant complaints by electricity consumers in the country.
The purpose of the said agreement is to establish a single dedicated channel to which consumers can make their complaints and expect prompt response. The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of FCCPC, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, at the occasion, pointed out that the move was aimed towards preventing inter-agency conflicts. He also noted that the Commission is resolving more consumer complaints than before, while adding that consumer dissatisfaction had been on the increase.
According to Him, “That people are complaining a lot more now is actually an indication of a vibrant resolution mechanism and a confidence in it. The bad side is that we continue to have repeated complaints about the same issues. It shows that there are some key structural modification to how businesses operate and how the sector delivers its services. We have to resolve consumers’ complaints and modify the nature of business in that space to a point where the dissatisfaction is reduced.”
In furtherance to this, NERC Chairman in the person of Mr. Sanusi Garba stated that the new platform would help minimize friction among regulatory agencies. According to Him, “The arrangement was to consolidate areas of cooperation between the two agencies, so we don’t have two regulators working against each other. There are merits in the collaboration and synergy that can be derived in the collaboration.”
Although as already pointed out, the complaints by these consumers have a trail of streamlined repeated issues such as unissued meters that have been fully paid for by consumers and over priced estimated bill. Whilst it is hoped that the approach taken by both Commissions will assist in modifying the structures of operation in the sector to reduce customers’ grievances, it is important for such collaboration to attend to these repeated pressing complaints of the consumers to bury such recurrent issues once and for all. This will not only minimize the complaints, but will ensure that futuristic complaints of such nature will be dealt with expeditiously. It is hoped that State owned consumer protection agencies would also join in this streamlined collaboration for effective service delivery to electricity consumers.