Fashola charges consumers to follow trends in the electricity value chain

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, today charged Nigerian electricity consumers to keep abreast of the process under which electricity is being produced and delivered to their door steps.

Making this charge in Abuja at a meeting with Dupe Atoki, the Director General of Consumer Protection Council (CPC), the minister noted that although consumers are kings, they must also realize that they have the duty to acquaint themselves with the process under which electricity is now being produced, transmitted and supplied.

He added that 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 privatization 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 the new boss has put into the running of the CPC, Fashola promised that the power sector under his watch will not allow Nigerians to be short-changed, noting that this has 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 is 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.
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.

 

YANGE IKYAA