Leading business owners in the South East region of Nigeria have voiced their anger on the ineffectiveness of Enugu Distribution Company (Enugu Disco), saying the region’s economic downturn is linked to steady darkness plunged to it by the Disco throughout 2018 and now.
Investigations in Imo, Anambra and other states undertaken by the Disco showed that electricity supplies which are traditionally erratic only shows up within the week for distribution of bills and seizes as soon as bills were paid.
Many of the operators who spoke to our correspondents in Onitsha and Orlu town and environs say Enugu Disco has remained an agent of underdevelopment in the region ever since it took over the Disco.
A tour of leading business districts in Onitsha, Orlu and Nnewi business axis is greeted with unbearable sounds and fumes coming from indiscriminately kept generating sets both along streets, passages and every available corner within every economic hub in the region.
Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU) during the tour of business districts in the geopolitical zone discovered that no business can survive without working with a generating set and average monthly electricity supplies is within one to two and half hours in about two days within a week.
In Orlu area, it was discovered that business operators had long lost confidence on Enugu Disco as many of them said since the emergence of the Disco, power supplies had become history as every business now runs on generators.
Only recently, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) report disclosed that the entire 11 electricity distribution companies in the country received a total of 391,066 complaints from consumers in the first nine months of 2018.
Otherwise, customer complaints, which stood at 128,791 in the third quarter, rose to 153,227 in the second quarter from 108,871 in the first quarter, according to the regulator.
NERC report further disclosed that “Although this represents an improvement in the third quarter, Benin Disco still had the worst performance in resolving customers’ complaints. Whereas other Discos resolved up to 75 per cent of their customer complaints in the period under review, Benin Disco resolved only 47.3 per cent of the customers’ complaints received.
However, the report pointed out that “Eko and Yola reached a commendable record of 98 per cent resolution during the period under review. The commission continued to investigate the reasons for poor customer complaints resolution by all Discos recording a resolution rate of less than 75 per cent.”
According to the report, “A review of customer complaints statistics indicated that metering, estimated billing and service interruption still remained the most significant areas of concerns for customers”.
