Nigeria’s Federal Government has issued an order to the power distribution companies (Discos) to set up customer engagement platforms by January 2024.
The order, which was announced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on September 1, 2023, aims to address the dissatisfaction of power users with the Discos’ complaint resolution process.
According to a document from NERC, titled ‘Order on deployment of customer engagement platforms’, the order will remain in force until it is amended or revoked by the commission.
The document also stated that the order was based on the findings of town hall meetings, public consultations and reports of complaints from the Discos’ customers.
The NERC said it had decided to deploy a call centre to enhance the complaint resolution process by providing near real-time visibility of customer complaints filed with the Discos.
The call centre will also serve as an additional channel for monitoring the Discos’ service quality and delivery to their customers.
The commission said it had hired a consultant to assist with the deployment of the call centre. The consultant had conducted preliminary investigations and found that some Discos had not set up call centres, while others had set up call centres that did not meet the commission’s requirements.
The NERC said it expected all Discos to have full-featured customer engagement platforms that would integrate seamlessly with the system deployed by the commission.
The commission said it would monitor the compliance of the Discos with the order and take appropriate actions against any defaulters.