Report Bribe-Seeking Officials, DisCos Tell Power Users

The 11 power Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) have urged customers to report bribe-seeking officials while also not indulging in inducing officials.

Sunday Oduntan, executive director for Research and Advocacy, in a statement, said: “As for the claims of bribe seeking and giving, our policies remain the same as with any legal entity doing business in Nigeria. We do not condone corruption and request any customer who requests for a legitimate service and if asked to pay a bribe to promptly report such incident as well as the staff in question through our customer service platforms and the regulator’s complaint channels.

“Also, sometimes, it is those who induce them that are the same people who come and complain about them. We need Nigerians to help us fish out the bad eggs in our system. If you see something, say something.”

ANED also dismissed claims that the 11 DisCos set arbitrary revenue targets for their staff, causing them to force high bills on customers. The association insisted that it is for their energy consumed that such bills are being charged.

“We are talking about money owed to the DisCo for a service already rendered. This is money earned by the DisCo based on the energy consumed.

“Any organisation that is performance-driven ties staff activities and its operations as a whole to targets. It is part of the model of any good organisation.

“DisCos set commercial, operations, technical and even customer service targets for their staff. The commercial targets in our case are specific and based on what has been consumed,” Oduntan stated.

The association further explained that distribution transformers are metered to read the value of electricity that passes through the transformer to the customers in an area. “We are simply saying people should pay us what they owe and our people are given the data on what is being owed and by whom.

“DisCos do not arbitrarily makeup billing figures. Where the customer or group of customers do not have pre-paid meters, there is an approved methodology for the computation of estimated bills, designed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which the DisCos follow,” the group stated.