Electricity consumers now have the right to sue distribution companies for inefficiency, Managing Director of Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO), Samuel Agbogun, has said.
He stated this yesterday during an exclusive interview with NEWMEN in Abuja, against the background of increased electricity tariff soon to be rolled out by the federal government.
According to him: “The Electricity Reform Act has adequate provision for consumer protection, in fact one reason the Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is in place is to ensure that both the consumers and the service providers are in a win-win position.”
Agbogun informed that the regulatory commission has been put in place to ensure that customers’ rights were protected especially in the sense of service provision and sustainability, adding that where problems traceable to the companies are found, they would be sanctioned.
“In fact, now we have a chance to sue the company’s failure to provide good service based on the contracts signed with them, before now we couldn’t do that,” he added.
While noting that the whole idea of tariff increase was to attract investors who ordinarily would not bring in their money unless they were sure of making profit, he said government would find a way to take care of the poor who may not be able to pay the tariff by way of providing subsidies.
However, he explained that there are certain occurrences that may not give consumers rights to protest, for example, he said if there were natural disasters like the recent Lagos storm, the Lagos Distribution Company cannot be held responsible.
He said government was optimistic that with the prepayment meters coming in, consumers would not lose anything.
“You pay for what you consume, so when there are natural disasters and power is out, your money is saved. We are hoping that this would be the situation, but by and large, it would be a win-win situation for all,” he assured.
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