Fashola charges consumers to follow trends in electricity value chain        

Minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday charged Nigerian electricity consumers to keep abreast of the process under which electricity was being produced and delivered to their door steps.

Making this charge in Abuja at a meeting with Dupe Atoki, director-general, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Fashola noted that “although consumers are kings, they must also realise that they have the duty to acquaint themselves with the process under which electricity is now being produced, transmitted and supplied.”

Fashola said they need to, on their part, follow the trends in the nation’s power sector and participate in decision making when called upon to do so.

“Nigerians must understand that the service providers have changed with privatisation of the two key arms of electricity value chain. This is the beginning of the new era of joint ownership, which is important, because no provider can fix tariff without the participation of consumers,” the minister further stated.

Commending the renewed vigour Atoki has put into the running of the CPC, Fashola promised that the power sector under his watch would not allow Nigerians to be short-changed, noting that this had informed government’s stand of the need to bridge the metering gap.

Earlier, Atoki appealed to the minister to hold operators in the power sector accountable to the terms of their contractual agreements in order to ensure that electricity was provided in a safe and un-interrupted manner to consumers in the country.

She lamented that despite measures being put in place by the nation’s electricity industry in the area of regulation through its agencies like the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Nigeria Electricity Management Commission (NEMSA), these agencies still need to do more in order to ensure safety of consumers, equipment and effective service delivery.

She observed that her Council had received and still receiving myriads of complaints from customers against operators in the power sector.

Some of the complaints, she said, include inadequate meters for consumers, resulting in estimated billing of large number of consumers, short supply of equipment such as transformers, electric poles and cables, among others.

She however commended the minister for coming up with consumers’ centred agenda for the three key sectors of power, works and housing, under his watch.