BY AKUDORO GLORIA
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said its resolved 2,209 of the appeals filed at Forum Offices nationwide in 84 sittings in the fourth quarter of 2024, representing 67.62 per cent resolution rate.
This even as the Commission disclosed that a total of fifty-four (54) accidents was reported in the Q4 of 2024, which resulted in nineteen (19) injuries and twentysix (26) fatalities.
NERC made this known in its newly released 2024/Q4 report, noting that its has launched investigations into
all the accidents and will continue to work with all sector stakeholders to improve the overall health and safety of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
According to the report under review, the DisCos successfully resolved 1,231 out of the 4,180 complaints that were
filed at the NERC-CCU; thus, translating to a resolution rate of 29.45 per cent.
NERC explained that the number of complaints received across all DisCo-CCUs was 275,681, which represented a -16.13 per cent decrease compared to
the 328,696 received in 2024/Q3.
As in previous quarters, metering, billing and service interruption were the prevalent issues of customer complaints during the quarter.
“Pursuant to the provisions of its Customer Protection Regulations 2023 (CPR 2023), the Commission set up
Forum Offices across the country to review unresolved disputes from
the DisCos’ Complaint Handling Units (DisCos-CCU).
“The total number of active appeals across the Forum Offices in 2024/Q4
was 3,267 made up of 2,034 new appeals in 2024/Q4 and 1,233
pending appeals from 2024/Q3. During the period, the forum panels held eighty-four (84) sittings and resolved 2,209 of the appeals filed at Forum Offices nationwide (67.62% resolution rate);
the resolution rate was +8.84pp higher than the 58.90% achieved in 2024/Q3.
“The Commission continues to take measures that will ensure a more
efficient customer complaint resolution process starting with improvements in the quality of complaint resolution at the DisCoCCU. To this end, the CPR 2023 contains updates to the customer service standards expected from the DisCos in line with international best practices,” the report revealed.
The report under review also indicated that a total of 185,439 meters were installed, which represents an increase of +0.19% compared to the 185,087
meters installed in 2024/Q3.
It emphasized that the new installations increased the net end-user metering rate across all the DisCos by +0.42pp between 2024/Q3 (46.15%) and 2024/Q4 (46.57%).
During the quarter, 179,064 meters (96.56% of the total installations) were installed under the MAP framework, 4,076 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), 1,924 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework, and 374 meters
were installed under the DisCo Financed framework.