The number of customer complaints across all the electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) hit 328,696 in Q3, 2024, climbing 14.35 per cent when compared to Q2, last year, the latest report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has disclosed.
The quarterly NERC document also showed that electricity customers nationwide got N207.4 million as credit adjustments from the power distributors during the period, following resolution of their complaints related to over-billing.
In all, issues of inappropriate billing took the lion’s share of reports of customer dissatisfaction, followed by metering problems, which were further trailed by tariff band complaints and service interruptions.
Reports directly made to NERC’s Customer Complaint Units (CCUs) during the period under consideration, were 5,287, with 1,647 resolved. This corresponded to a 31.15 per cent resolution rate.
The commission’s CCUs are dedicated sections to the resolution of complaints received directly from customers via emails, letters or phone calls through the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) call centre.
According to the report, this resolution rate represented a 8.77 per cent increase compared to the 22.38 per cent resolution rate recorded in 2024/Q2.
Customers of Ikeja and Eko Discos lodged 2,401 and 1,073 complaints, accounting for 45.41 per cent and 20.30 per cent respectively of the total complaints lodged at NERC’s CCU. Conversely, Aba Power had the lowest number of complaints with 10 or 0.19 per cent of the total number received.
The commission highlighted the poor resolution rate of 31.15 per cent at its customer complaint units, during the period, stressing that it was taking steps to improve the speediness of complaints resolution by Discos.
During the quarter, customer complaints about billing at the NERC CCUs constituted 34.37 per cent of the total complaints. Other common issues among the 5,287 complaints received directly by NERC, were metering (29.98 per cent), tariff band (13.60 per cent) and service interruption (12.24 per cent).
These four complaints categories, according to the report, cumulatively accounted for 90.18 per cent of the total complaints in the quarter.
“The complaints on billing that were resolved during the quarter resulted in a credit adjustment on customers’ bills to the tune of N207,442,190,” it added.
But generally, across Discos, the total number of complaints received in 2024/Q3 was 328,696, translating to a 14.35 per cent increase compared to the 287,441 received in 2024/Q2, the report showed.
“Eko Disco received the highest number of complaints of 64,987, representing 19.77 per cent of total complaints received. Yola DisCo received the least number of complaints which was 2,583, representing 0.79 per cent of total complaints received,” NERC added.
Also, disconnections constituted 6 per cent of all cases of complaints; while delays, voltage interruptions; load shedding as well as non-compliance constituted the rest.
A further breakdown showed that aside from Eko with 64,987 complaints, Port Harcourt had 56,942; Ibadan had a total customer complaints of 56,597; Abuja had 31,407; Kano (27,511); Ikeja (22,971); Jos (20,782); Enugu (20,769); Benin (11,809); Kaduna (7,405); Aba (4,933) and Yola (2,583).
It added that: Benin (96.16 per cent), Kano (52.22 per cent), Yola (26.74 per cent), Eko (21.75 per cent) and Abuja (21.30 per cent) Discos recorded the most significant increase in the number of customer complaints received in 2024/Q3 compared to 2024/Q2.
Only Enugu, which had a decrease in complaints of 5.68 per cent , according to NERC, recorded a decrease in the number of customer complaints received between 2024/Q2 and 2024/Q3.
“The most common issues among the 328,696 complaints received by Discos in 2024/Q3 were metering (41.95 per cent), billing (21.28 per cent), and service interruption (7.05 per cent). These three complaints categories cumulatively accounted for 70.28 per cent of the total complaints in the quarter,” NERC added.
Besides, the summary of the appeals received across the NERC’s Forum Offices indicated that through 2024/Q3, there were 3,202 active appeals, that is 1,035 pending appeals from 2024/Q2 and 2,167 new appeals in 2024/Q3, across the 33 Forum Offices.
To address the issue of delays, NERC had recently partnered with other organisations, such as the National Orientation Agency (NOA), to enhance customer complaint resolution processes.
