Unmetered Disco customers can reject disputed bill – FCCPC boss

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission says unmetered customers have the right to withhold payment of disputed bills and pay only the last agreed bill pending resolution by the power firm or Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The FCCPC Executive Vice-Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Irukera, who stated this, also accused the power distribution companies in Nigeria of entrenching lack of transparency in their dealings with customers.
He spoke at the commission’s Electricity Consumer Complaint Resolution Platform for Eko and Ikeja Electricity DisCos supported by MacArthur Foundation.
He stated that the major challenge of the DisCos was not about inadequate supply to consumers but the lack of transparency in their day-to-day dealings with customers.
He stressed that a situation where consumers would be made to pay above their consumption would be resisted.
The FCPCC CEO said the agency had been inundated with complaints from electricity consumers across the country.
He lamented the huge level of complaints emanating from the power sector, saying of all the sectors regulated by the FCCPC, complaints about Discos’ activities topped the list.
He urged the power distribution companies to improve on service delivery, including the turnaround time for complaints resolution, stressing that when complaints were left unresolved for a longer period, there was the tendency for a customer to get agitated.
He said, “It is worrisome that the majority of the issues we attend to are from the power sector. That tells you that something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. And not until the root cause of the issue is addressed, we may not get out of the woods.
“If I may ask, why should it be the FCCPC that would bring both consumers and DisCos together in a bid to resolve issues? This should not be the norm. DisCos on their own should regularly engage consumers in a bid to address their complaints.”
Deputy General Manager, Consumer Services, NERC, Shittu Shaibu, said that the Federal Government was doing its best to ensure that issues around estimated billings were resolved once and for all.
He said this informed its intervention through the National Mass Metering Programme sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which targeted to meter six million customers over the next 18-36 months across the country.