Electricity consumers have thrown their weight behind the recent directive issued by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola to the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) to ensure the Distribution Companies (DisCos) improve their services.

The Daily Trust reports that investors in the DisCos recently said about N1.3 trillion shortfall in the electricity market was hindering them from performing their metering and network improvement obligations as they seek to meet with the minister.

However, in separate statements at the weekend, some consumer groups backed the minister’s declaration as they urged the DisCos to focus on service delivery adding that the minister’s directive was a patriotic act.

The National President for Association for Public Policy Analysis (APPA), Comrade Princewill Okorie in a statement on Saturday said, “We are totally in support of the policy focus of Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing as presented by the Minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola. This is because the Minister by his directive has demonstrated that he is not biased in favour of DisCos, consumers or GenCos."

“When tariff was increased in favour of DisCos, the Minister defended the DisCos and assured consumers that quality of service was going to improve since the tariff increase which was expected to enable DisCos have more money to inject in the system,” Okorie said.

The association said the directive should be adhered to by the DisCos to address the major complaints of electricity consumers. APPA listed the consumer challenges to include estimated billing, corruption, erosion of confidence due to lack of accountability and transparency occasioned by non-availability of meters to consumers.

•Culled from a Daily Trust report