NERC: Metering, billing, service interruptions accounted for 70% of complaints in Q3 2024

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says metering, billing, and service interruptions accounted for 70.28 percent of customer complaints received across all power distribution companies (DisCos) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2024.

The NERC, in its latest quarterly report, said the number of complaints received across all DisCos in Q3 of last year was 328,696.

This represents a 14.35 percent increase compared to the 287,441 complaints received in Q2 last year, the commission said.

“The most common issues among the 328,696 complaints received by DisCos in 2024/Q3 were metering (41.95%), billing (21.28%), and service interruption (7.05%). These three (3) complaints categories cumulatively accounted for 70.28% of the total complaints in the quarter,” the report said.

“Eko DisCo received the highest number of complaints (64,987) representing 19.77% of total complaints received. Yola DisCo received the least number of complaints (2,583) representing 0.79% of total complaints received.

“Benin (+96.16%), Kano (+52.22%), Yola (+26.74%), Eko (+21.75%) and Abuja (+21.30%) DisCos recorded the most significant increase in the number of customer complaints received in 2024/Q3 compared to 2024/Q2.

“Only Enugu (-5.68%) DisCo recorded a decrease in the number of customer complaints received between 2024/Q2 and 2024/Q3.”

In the period under review, the report said the NERC customer complaint units (CCUs) received 5,287 complaints, out of which 1,647 were resolved — reflecting a resolution rate of 31.15 percent.

The resolution rate, according to the report, is an 8.77 percent increase compared to the 22.38 percent resolution rate recorded in Q2 2024. 

“Customers of Ikeja and Eko Discos lodged 2,401 and 1,073 complaints, accounting for 45.41% and 20.30% respectively of the total complaints lodged at NERC CCU,” the report reads.

“Conversely, Aba Power had the lowest number of complaints with 10 (0.19%) of the total number received.”

The NERC acknowledged the poor resolution rate of 31.15 percent for complaints submitted to the CCU in Q3 2024, stating that measures are being implemented to enhance the resolution of issues.

‘CUSTOMERS RECEIVED N207M AS CREDIT ADJUSTMENTS FOR OVER-BILLING COMPLAINTS’

The quarterly NERC report said customers nationwide got N207.4 million as credit adjustments from the power distributors during the period following the resolution of complaints related to over-billing.

“During the quarter, customer complaints about billing constituted 34.37% of the total complaints. Other common issues among the 5,287 complaints received were metering (29.98%), tariff band (13.60%) and service interruption (12.24%),” the report said.

“These four (4) complaints categories cumulatively accounted for 90.18% 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.”

Also, disconnections constituted 6 percent of all cases of complaints, while delays, voltage interruptions, load shedding as well as noncompliance constituted the rest.

The NERC said a summary of appeals received at its forum offices showed a total of 3,202 active cases during Q3 2024, which include 1,035 unresolved appeals carried over from Q2 2024 and 2,167 new appeals filed in the review period across its 33 forum offices.

The commission said it is implementing measures to enhance the effectiveness of customer complaint resolution at the DisCo-CCU level to reduce the number of appeals submitted to the forum offices.