NIGERIAN ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION
OVERVIEW OF THE IT CUSTOMER
COMPLAINTS HANDLING SYSTEM
By
Dr. Tony Akah
General Manager, Government and Consumer Affairs
Outline
• Introduction
• Attributes of good service delivery
• Overview of NERC’s Regulations on Customer
Complaints Handling
• Status quo and challenges of the existing
complaints handling and reporting system
• Objectives of the proposed IT complaint
management system
• Conclusion
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INTRODUCTION
Protecting the rights of consumers is essential to having safe,
reliable, adequate and affordable electricity.
Collection, collation, analysis and mining of information from
consumers and distribution companies are paramount to the
protection of consumer rights.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) as the
sector Regulator is mandated under Sections 32(c) and 80 (b)
of the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) ACT 2005 to
undertake that core responsibility.
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WHAT DOES THE CUSTOMER WANT?
Quality &
Reliability
Of Service
Easy Payment
Mechanism
CUSTOMER
Prompt
Complaint
Handling
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Accuracy
Of Bill
MANDATE OF THE GOVERNMENT &
CONSUMER AFFAIRS DIVISION
The Government and Consumer Affairs Division (G&CA)
articulates policies that would promote and protect the
rights and interest of electricity consumers, the
electricity service providers and facilitate the
partnerships with stakeholders such as Government
towards achieving the mandate of the Commission.
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-Provisions on Consumer Protection under the Electric
Power Sector Reform (ESPR) Act 2005.
• Section 80 (1) states that “The Commission shall develop,
the following inter alia, instruments for Customer
Protections:
a) Customer Service Standards
b) Customer Complaint Handling Standards and Procedures
c) Codes of practice for the provision of assistance to special
needs customers, such as the blind or disabled, the elderly
or severely ill;
d) Procedures for dealing with and assisting where necessary,
customers who have difficulty in paying their bills (Power
Consumer Assistance fund)
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NERC CUSTOMER COMPLAINT
REDRESS MECHANISM
• Customer Complaints Unit (CCU) of the Discos
• The Forum
• NERC
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• Distribution companies (Discos) and the Forum offices send
monthly collated complaints register/reports which
contains details of complaints they handled the previous
month.
• Its in printed hard copy format and most times bulky.
• Limited insights from the data.
• Analyzing the data and making comparative analysis is
cumbersome
• Incidence of recycling and submission of previous reports
do occur
• Verification of the authenticity of the information
submitted poses a problem
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STATUS QUO AND CHALLENGES
• Monitoring and benchmarking the Discos and
Forum office performance is hindered
• Cumbersome and not robust process for
decision making
• No real time mechanism to ensure prompt and
effective intervention to severe complaints
that require urgent attention
• Irregular submission of the reports
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



Ensures accuracy of information
Standardization of multiple data sources
Provides quantitative data for policy formulation
Enables NERC to have a real time complete picture of
Discos and Forum offices complaint management
 Robust reporting mechanism
 Facilitates the benchmarking of the Discos and Forum
offices
 Reliable information portal for the electricity supply
industry in Nigeria, especially on consumer related areas.
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OBJECTIVES OF THE
PROPOSED IT SYSTEM
 Web-based system that allows the Commission to have
access to the data from anywhere
 Sms portal for consumers to submit information or
inquire on status of their issues
 Ability to send advance alerts to consumers on planned
interruptions, adverse weather, energy saving tips, etc
 Sms portal to send alert to key staff of the Commission
through their mobile phones on severe complaints that
require urgent attention
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OBJECTIVES OF THE
PROPOSED IT SYSTEM
 In-bound, out-bound, and integrated contact
management for prompt routing of issues/complaints
 On-line and searchable knowledge base as a tool for
training and proactive regulation
 Data warehouse and business intelligence
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Website: www.nercng.org
E-mail: info@nercng.org
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