NERC Tasks New Electricity Discos On Service Delivery

The Nigerian Electricity Regu
latory Commission (NERC) has called on the new owners of the nation’s electricity Distribution (DISCOs) and Generation Companies (GENCOs) to step up their service delivery to consumers.
The NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi gave the charge on Wednesday in Abuja at a stakeholders meeting with the CEO’s of the DISCOS and GENCOS.
“This business meeting is for us to meet with the stakeholders and see how we can ensure compliance with the market rules and improve on service delivery,’’ he said.
He said that the meeting was also designed to address some of the operational challenges in the generation and distribution of electricity by the new companies.
The NERC boss charged the companies on the need for effective customer relations, accurate billing system and proper record keeping.
“By the end of the day, you will be issued with a letter directing you to preserve all the records you met in these companies even if you want to migrate to a higher platform,” he said.
He stressed the need for the new companies to comply with various codes and regulations of the commission and also stick to the rules of the interim market rules.
In his response, the Chief Executive officer of Kano Disco, Alhaji Jamil Gwamna, decried the low generating supply to the Discos, especially the Kano.
He said that the zone, which comprises three states and Niger Republic has been receiving very low power allocation which had led to complaints from consumers.
“So how do we make money? I don’t even know how we are going to pay staff salary because our revenue collection is nowhere near what we need for our salary.
“I have been running the company from other sources so far,” he said.
Also, Mrs Funke Odusote, of the Benin Disco said there was inadequate information on the part of customers on the operations of the companies.
She said that customers seem to believe that they were entitled to three months grace within which they were not expected to pay for the light they consumed.
“They believe the debt they owed before we took over has been written off, and that they are entitled to free meter.
“They don’t believe we are not to blame for lack of power; the truth is that we are buying supplies form the GENCO’s,” she said.
The Tide reports that the meeting is the inaugural meeting in the series of meetings between NERC and the DISCOs/GENCOs.
It is aimed at addressing grey areas in the electricity distribution chain.