Electricity consumers across the country would soon be able to monitor and report incidence of power outage and other service disruptions by the distribution companies with the launch of the pilot of the power outage reporting system (PORS) application by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
At the unveiling of the application on Monday in Abuja, NERC Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Aisha Mahmoud, said the Commission developed the application in collaboration with the electricity distribution companies.
Although Mahmoud said the original idea at inception was to make the application a 100 percent NERC project, she said the DISCos would be allowed to take full ownership of the application, manage, operate and maintain, while the electricity sector regulator would monitor its deployment.
“We will hand over the application to the distribution companies for implementation and operation. NERC will continue to perform its oversight function on the application by monitoring to ensure it works properly and appropriately,” Mahmoud said.
Over the years, she said the Commission came up with several initiatives to give customers value for money for the services by the DISCos.
The Commissioner said the new power outage reporting system was one of those initiatives by the Commission to ensure customers were well-protected.
The PORS, she said, has a multi-channel approach to harvest a lot of data from customers in outages as well as hours of supply given to customers on each service band.
“It utilises a multi-channel approach. A lot of hard work and effort went into developing this app. We liaised with the different distribution companies and obtained a lot of data on their customers.
“So if you are a customer having supply from a DISCo, your information is already stored in that app.
“If you have made a complaint on any outage in your area before, there are multiple channels, including a web app and a mobile app. The PORS, which could be used to file complaints on any outage through multiple channels, can be downloaded on smart phones through the Apple or Google store and key in your customer meter number,” she added.
A customer who has a complaint about an outage or any issue concerning electricity supply in his or her area would need to first download the app, input his or her meter number before logging in with his or her complaint. The app will automatically send a confirmation to the customer on the customer’s particular feeder with a notification about if indeed there is really any power outage.
“When the outage has been confirmed, and the DISCo received validation from two or three customers about the outage on that particular feeder, the App would send the confirmation to the DISCo with a resolution timeline. As soon as the complaint is resolved, the DisCo would update the app to confirm the resolution of the complaint, while a copy of the confirmation would also be sent automatically to those customers who made the complaint on that particular feeder,” she said.
Collaborating with the DisCos, she pointed out, was to make their work easier, adding that with the app, customer can easily reach out to the DISCos and the Commission to ensure they receive the best service.
She said the roll out of the app in Abuja, using Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) as the pilot, while the app would be extended to all other DISCos within the next couple of months.
NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba, who performed the launching, said the application was developed in line with the Commission’s pledge to improve service delivery to customers.
Garba recalled the recent launch of a new consumer protection regulation which provides timelines within which public utilities, especially DISCos, were required to resolve complaints by customers.
He said the newly launched app was supposed to assist the Commission in monitoring compliance by the DISCos with the standards set out in the regulation, adding that the app was originally designed for crowdsourcing data for the purpose of service-based tariffs.
Crowdsourcing, he explained, was like sampling the level of quality of electricity supply customers received.
However, he said the Commission decided to put smart intensity on all feeders to have 100 percent live data to help the DISCos effectively comply with service obligations prescribed in the tariff order.
The Managing Director of AEDC, Christopher Ezeafulukwe, commended NERC for the app, saying it would help the DISCos, which he described as a key player in the relay race, taking power to the end users in the value chain, to deliver quality service to their customers.
He said feedback from customers through the app would help deliver quality service to the customers, adding that as a product of collaboration between the DISCos and the operators, the app would help create and sustain value to the electricity sector
“The app will catalyse database operations as it will help interact more with the customers to ensure proper usage to ensure that information we get are correct,” Ezeafulukwe said.
