The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has asked the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to refund consumers’ investments in transformers, poles, cables, among others.
Tunji Bello, chief executive officer/executive vice-chairman of FCCPC, gave this directive during the FCCPC Electricity Consumer Forum in Ota, Ogun State.
Bello, who was represented by Bridget Etim, said customers must be refunded for their investments in transformers, noting that the DisCos do not necessarily need to inform the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) before doing the refund. Neither does a community need to inform the NERC, he noted.
“We are not going to accept that as a commission. We told the IBEDC before that for subsequent investments in network areas, returns must be given to the investors (the consumers). I am correcting this because the IBEDC is saying you have to write the NERC. If you tell the Disco that you want to invest, the Disco has the responsibility to escalate it to the regulator. That this is what the community is doing.”
“In fact, let me tell IBEDC that Jos DisCo has had to compensate a community that invested in their network without informing NERC or FCCPC. I want IBEDC to change and learn,” he further said.
He urged Nigerians to always inform the FCCPC any time they want to commit funds to transformers to ensure they get refunds.
Olatunji Onaolapo, Ado-Odo/Ota Zonal CDC chairman, blamed IBEDC for being nonchalant in its service delivery in the local government, noting that consumers acquire some of the basic items that should be procured by the DisCo while remaining in darkness.
“In Itele Ota alone, our people have bought up to 80 transformers. IBEDC did not buy a single one. We even pay for energisation, beg them to come and install a transformer that they are supposed to buy,” Onaolapo said.
Abdulrasaq Jimoh, IBEDC boss in Ogun State, in his response, said the communities bought the transformers without carrying the DisCo along.
Jimoh said the communities should have informed NERC of their intention to buy transformers and other items before going ahead to procure them.
