Know your rights, get better service – Electricity regulator charges Nigerians

The Federal Government through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has charged Nigerians to know their rights so that they can demand service providers in the sector to serve them better.

Aisha Mahmoud, NERC’s Commissioner for Customer Affairs, stated this on Friday while speaking with newsmen at a three-day Customer Complaints Resolution Town Hall Meeting, which was organised by the Commission in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

According to her, the meeting was organised to address complaints from customers, adding that it would also enable the Commission to have feedback from the customers.

Her words, “We are here to listen to customers, listen to their complaints, and have those complaints resolved on the spot

“So we are here for three days just to listen to whatever customers have to say regarding the electricity industry. Customers will have a lot of concerns, and we thought instead of just sitting in Abuja and waiting for them to come and complain, why not just go to them and get those complaints resolved?

“That is what we have been doing, and I think for this year, this should be like the 7th or 6th location that we have been to. The second reason we are here is to educate them (customers) on what we think they should know regarding their rights and obligations.

“We do know that most Nigerians don’t know their rights, even though they have a lot of rights, because we keep telling customers that when they pay for electricity, they are not just paying for electricity, but they are also paying for services.

“So they should demand their services be rendered to them. So they don’t know about these rights. We have them among all these beautiful regulations and others on our website, which Nigerians are mostly not aware of. So, we are here just to inform them that you have this right, and you should insist that services be provided to you.”

In his speech, Engr. Francis Agoha, the Acting Managing Director of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) who was represented by Angela Olanrewaju, Head of Corporate Services, said the company, apart from ensuring that customers are adequately metered and properly billed, is also ensuring that the response rate to complaints exceeds 90%.