NERC inaugurates customers complaint office in Bauchi 

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC) has appealed to customers who are yet to be metered despite paying in-advance for their prepaid meters, to properly lodge their complaints at the commission’s forum offices of customer’s complaints rather than vent their anger through violence on electricity workers. The NERC Commissioner of Consumers, Dr Moses Arigu stated this on Thursday  during the launching of it’s Customers Complaints Forum office in Bauchi.The event which is took place in bauchi was attended by stakeholders, customers, state government functionaries and the media. The NERC Commissioner said that the event was significant because it indicates the responsiveness of the commission towards addressing the needs of the people to complaints resolution on electricity supply in Bauchi state and the nation as a whole. “It is on record that within the period of January and September 2018, the Jos  Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) recorded a significant number of unresolved complaints out of which 547 were made by customers within Bauchi and its environs. Majority of these complaints have been on voltage and billing issues. “The members of the forum are representatives of all the customers’ classes including industrial, commercial, residential as well as professional bodies such as Customers Protection Council, Nigeria Society of Engineers and civil society groups. “It is interesting to note that Jos Disco has commenced the procurement of Meter Asset Providers combined with the implementation of their roll-out-plan in accordance with the performance agreement signed with the government under revitalization program. This will inject an average of about 100,000 meters into Jos Disco network annually over the next five years,” he said He revealed that the present metering gap in Jos Discos is about 320,000 when compared to its total customer size of about 486,000 customers representing a 64 percent deficit in metering as at August, 2018. In his address, the Bauchi state Governor, Mohammed Abubakar stated that the coming of electricity distribution companies in the country was a good development as customers now have value for their money through innovations such as the customers complaint office established by NERC.