Power Supply: Complaints Commission boss tasks power Company on improved services

The Federal Capital Territory's Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission, Hon. Obunike Ohaegbu has tasked the management of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to ensure customers enjoy quality services.

Hon. Ohaegbu made the call in Abuja on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 when he paid a courtesy call to the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Mr. Neil Croucher. The Commissioner said his office has been inundated with petitions from aggrieved customers on the quality of services rendered by the company and has come to enquire on how the company is tackling them. Assuring the management that the Commission is not out to harass or witch-hunt them, he said;

"I must emphasise that the Public Complaints Commission is not a fault finding institution. We don't go about trying to find fault from organisations. What we try to do is to use the platform we have, the government has created for individuals to address issues"

Mr. Croucher while acknowledging the complaints said most of them arose from the old system they met on ground when they took over the company from the defunct PHCN and pledged his company's commitments towards putting in place an efficient system.

"We hope to turn it around but to be realistic it's not something we can turn around overnight. Hopefully,  there are improvements " he said.

On complaints arising from the old billing system Mr. Croucher added;

"We have an investment plan; a key part of reducing the losses is to install metres. We have a programme of installing about 100,000 meters per year because we believe that the right of every customer is to be properly and accurately metered on the power they consume. But it's not just going to people's premises and put in a meter, in many cases you actually have to rewire the whole area. You don't just put meter on top of a bad system"

Speaking further, Mr. Ernest Mupwaya, the Company's Executive Director, Commercial Services revealed that plans are underway to roll out complaints hotline to customers.

"We will advertise numbers, we already have two numbers and we will extensively advertise these numbers to be accessed 24/7 by our customers . . . that System will help us enhance the way we handle complaints and it will give us a true picture of how many complaints we are handling,the level of satisfaction and how we are improving in our services" he said.

The Commissioner however commended the new management for the quick response time in which they now respond to the Commission's letters. He reiterated the importance of the power sector to the growth of the Nigerian economy.

"I believe that if we get the power sector right, every other thing will fall in place".

Mr. Croucher thanked the Commissioner for the visit and assured him that their doors are open to his Commission anytime they want to assess how things are going on in the company or 'if you need generic information on distribution companies'.