…Tasks Electricity Consumers On Effective Usage
The Chairman Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Sanusi Garba on Monday unveiled an App known as Power Outage Reporting, PORS.
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While launching the App in Abuja, Garba tasked all the electricity consumers to key into the new online App initiated to make the complaint resolution process easier and faster in the country.
He added that the PORS innovation can be downloaded from the Apple or Google Play store, adding that its operations are so simple such that all cadres of customers can perform.
According to him, the technology is packaged to facilitate resolution of consumers’ complaints real time by just some clicks on their phone wherever they are, thus saving them the stress, time, and resources involved in going to the operator’s office.
He assured that the commission has an internal mechanism put in place to monitor the compliance of the distribution companies (DisCos) with the complaint resolution timeline and to sanction defaulting DisCos.
Engr Garba also explained that the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, is being used as a pilot DisCo to launch the app, after which it will be rolled out to cover all the DisCos across the country.
“We decided to start this launch with Abuja, but there will be national rollout for all distribution companies,” he noted, adding that such a massive project requires to be test run, and Abuja was picked as the starting point.
He charged the DisCos to ensure full operation of the new technology to resolve power outage complaints by customers real time.
Speaking earlier, NERC commissioner, Consumer Affairs, Aisha Mahmud, said the idea of developing the PORS was borne out of the commission’s determination to ensure that customers get service protection and satisfaction.
She explained that the commission only developed the app to hand over to the DisCos who are directly concerned with supplying power and interfacing with customers for operation, while NERC preforms oversight function to ensure compliance.
On his part, the managing director/chief executive officer, MD/CEO, of AEDC, Christopher Ezeafulukwe, said the new technology introduced by NERC is a welcome development as it will help catalyse more data based decisions on the part of the DisCos towards achieving the objectives of the power value chain.
According to him, it is a win-win situation for the trio of NERC – the inventor, the DisCos – the operator, and the customers – the product end user by making the oversight function of the commission easier, guaranteeing timely feedback to the operator from customers, and ensuring real time addressing of customers complaint for possible resolution.
“On the part of the distribution company, you can’t overemphasize the fact that this will actually help as catalyse more data based decisions. And so we looking forward to using this app to interact more, to engage more, to hear more from the customers, and then more importantly, use that as a raw material to serve our customers better,” he said, adding that the app is so user friendly such that it will not post any usage difficulty to customers.
Ezeafulukwe however stressed the need for customers to ensure that the information they provide at any point in time is correct, to avoid misleading the operator.
The highlight of the launch was the demonstration of the operations of the app by the developer. At a click, it will open with options for customers to click further and follow the prompts thereafter.
