Power: Abuja Disco to establish call centre, urged on metering

By Etuka Sunday

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has announced that plans have been concluded to establish a customer call centre to deal with consumer related issues.

Meanwhile the company has been urged to ensure adequate metering of electricity customers to avoid excessive billing and fraud.

The Managing Director of the Distribution Company (Disco), Mr Neil Croucher disclosed this recently when he and other management officials paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory

Commission (NERC) in Abuja.

A statement by the NERC’s Head of Public Affairs, Dr. Usman Abba Arabi said the aim of the visit was to intimate the Commission on the company’s vision in the light of the expectations of electricity customers and the industry at large.

Croucher in his address disclosed that the company was in the process of establishing a call centre to deal with consumer related issues.

The delegation also hinted of its desire to change the name of the company and also rebrand it for better and efficient performance.

Shareholder and Managing Director of CEC Africa, Michael Tarney who also accompanied Neil Croucher alongside the representative of United Bank of Africa, Helen Brume revealed that it was financing the Abuja Disco up to 99 percent in collaboration with UBA.

Tarney noted that the company was operating on loses at present due to gas constraints and the challenge of getting paid for power they supply to customers but said they working on improving collections and loss reductions.

NERC Chairman/ CEO, Dr Sam Amadi in his response commended the involvement of UBA as debt provider but cautioned on the utility failing in its operations which may in turn affect the bank.

Amadi urged the Disco to also make efforts to inject money into metering even as it continues to improve cash collection and revenue increase.

‘’Metering needs to be improved upon because it will enhance data gathering and revenue collection’’ he said.

He advised that sub-stations should be properly fenced to stem the activities of vandals, which was another way of saving cost. He further reminded the delegates of NERC’s stance on a cost reflective tariff.