Govt moves to quicken resolution of electricity consumers’ complaints

Plans embedded generation to boost supply

TO ensure quicker resolution of consumer complaints, the Federal Government has commissioned a call centre for the power sector.

  The call centre, managed by the Ministry of Communications Technology, provides a platform where customers can put calls through and lay their complaints, while the customer agent at the end of the line offers relevant advice or  links them up to the appropriate offices or authorities for speedy redress, where necessary.

 Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, who kicked off the call centre in Abuja, also highlighted why government was not winning the war against vandals.

  He told newsmen later that government was stepping up campaign with distribution companies to embark on embedded generation to improve power supply. This, he said, could immediately address the effects of vandalism in the power sector. Nebo said the country had witnessed 53 days of vandalism of gas to power networks /pipelines this year alone.

  On the call centre, the minister noted:  “It is a thing of joy to be kicking off this very event that is meant to bring government closer to the people.  It also provides platform in case anybody has any suggestions to make in respect of how electricity can get round to the country.

  “It is a wonderful initiative of the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology. It is a very good way for people to feel the heart beat of the government, and for government to feel the heart beat of the people to know where exactly the people are coming from.  Instead of regarding those who subscribe to the use of our electricity facilities as consumers, I want to call them customers, because we work together for the betterment of our country.  So, it is also wonderful that the Ministry of Communication Technology has given us a call acronym of 0700CALLPOWER. It has one digit more than the regular number, because it is a very special number. We shouldn’t worry about that.

  “We are going to have this thing over subscribed. Everybody is talking electricity these days. Whatever we can do to make our people happier, better served, and better listened to, we will do that.”

  On embedded generation, Nebo explained: “DISCOs will not do generation. But there is such a thing as embedded power or distributed power, or embedded generation.  We have been pushing for people to generate electricity and sell them directly to the Discos. That way, you don’t need to worry so much about pipeline vandalism. For instance, as we speak, we have had only four days that are vandals free this year.  We have 53 days of vandalism.  We have only had four days of free flow of gas without vandalism. That tells you how horrible the situation with vandalism is.”