NERC receives 3.25 million complaints about estimated billing, othersn
Outrageous billings, service interruptions and illegal disconnections topped the list of over 3.25 million complaints made by consumers to the electricity distribution companies, also known as DisCos within five years.
This was as 430 employees of the companies and the third parties died from 1,528 job-related accidents within the same period.
According to an analysis of the quarterly reports released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission obtained by our correspondent, a total of 2.89 million complaints were resolved representing an 88.92 per cent resolution rate.
The reports, which covered the period between January 2018 and June 2022, indicated that service interruptions, poor voltage, load shedding, inadequate metering, prevalent practices of estimated billing, disconnections and delayed connection of consumers back to supply networks were predominant features of complaints received by the commission.
It added that complaints that could not be handled by the DisCos were escalated to NERC.
Apart from the poor services, NERC’s report also indicated that 1,528 accidents were reported, with 430 workers and third parties dying as a result of electricity-related accidents, and 214 injuries reported by the utilities.
Meanwhile, an analysis of the report showed that in 2018, from 527,285 complaints received by the companies, 382,499 were resolved.
In 2019, 648,537 complaints were made and 553,756 were resolved.
In 2020, the NERC report said 857,108 complaints from customers who were unsatisfied with Discos’ services and decisions were lodged at its offices and 799,236 were solved, while in 2021, 725,533 complaints, 694,154 were resolved and 494,394 complaints were made and 462,398 resolved in 2022. The commission in the report, however, restated its commitment to ensuring improved customer service delivery.
##############
Concession: FG to earn N647.7bn from power projects
The Federal Government is set to earn N647.7 billion from the concession of two power projects, the e-ticketing of two rail routes and a Device Management System.
The two power projects which are the 360 Mega Watts Gurara II Multipurpose Dam and Hydro Power Plant and the 40 MegaWatts Kashimbilla Hydro Power Plant will be concessioned under an Operation and Management Public Private Partnership model.
Other projects for concession are: Secure E-ticketing Solutions for the Lagos-Ibadan Rail Service and the Warri-Itakpe Rail Service as well as the Device Management System, a project designed by the Nigerian Communications Commission.
According to a statement issued by the ICRC acting spokesperson, Ifeanyi Nwoko, on Friday, in Abuja, the projects will be under the regulatory guidance of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
The Punch reports that the 360MW Gurara II HPP, a greenfield project will adopt an operation, maintenance and transfer PPP model under an Engineering Procurement and Construction contract for a concession period of 30 years that will be executed by Messrs CGCOC Group Co. Limited.
The spokesperson noted further that approval for the Kashimbilla 40MW HPP has been granted for the operations and maintenance of the Hydropower Plant by Messrs Mainstream Energy Solutions/KEPL Consortium-Concessionaire/Technical Partner.
Part of the statement in that regard read, “Both the Gurara and the Kashimbilla HPP projects will bring about Improved living conditions and employment, promotion of agriculture through irrigation, reduction of Greenhouse Gases as well as foreign exchange preservation.
“One of the primary objectives of the dam is to mitigate the environmental disaster associated with overflow of flood water in various downstream states of Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Delta, Cross River and Bayelsa, potentially affecting more than 6 million people.
“The hydropower component of the Dam will also aid in ecological flood control, water supply for a population of about 400,000 people, irrigation potentials for about 3,000 hectares of arable land for farming as well as fishing to support food security.
“The dam, hydropower plant, and other complementary infrastructure will be executed within a concession period of 30 years and an expected total revenue generation of $875million USD within the period, while project cost for Kashimbilla HPP, is put at N7.68 billion approved for a concession period of 15 years. It will yield a total revenue of N85 billion,” the statement explained.
It added that the Lagos-Ibadan concession was approved at a cost of N1.1 billion and granted to Messers Global Software Digital Solutions Limited and Datamataic Global Services Limited as technical partners, for a period of 10 years. A total of N112.8 billion will be generated from this project.
The Warri-Itakpe counterpart project will be executed at the cost of N860,806,423. It was granted to Fane International Consult Limited and Artificial Intelligence Technologies Limited as technical partners, also for a 10-year term. Revenue generation from the concession is estimated at N63.3 billion.
#####$$$$
Airline fines pilot $36,496 for inviting friend into cockpit
India’s aviation regulator on Friday imposed a fine of 3 million rupees (36,496 million dollars) on Air India.
The airline was fined after a pilot
