The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has unveiled an application known as the Power Outage Reporting System to enable electricity consumers report electricity disruptions and outages to Distribution Companies (DisCo). The unveiling ceremony was held on Monday at NERC’s Headquarters in Abuja where the NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba revealed that the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) would be utilized as a test-run for the app pending a national roll-out for all DisCos.
He said, “We recently launched a new regulation that provides timelines within which public utilities, especially DisCos, are required to resolve complaints from customers. So this particular app being unveiled today is to assist the Commission in monitoring whether DisCos are complying with the standard set out in that regulation.
“Originally, the application was designed for crowd-sourcing data for the purpose of service-based tariffs. By crowd-sourcing, the application was to sample the quality of supply that customers are experiencing.
“But the Commission decided that it is better to put smart meters on all feeders so we can have 100 per cent live data or near real-time data to ensure that the DisCos are actually complying with the service obligations that are prescribed in the tariff orders.”
The NERC Chairman urged customers to download the app via the Apple Store or Google Play Store, adding that electricity consumers with complaints, as well as NERC would be able to view the progress being made to resolve reported power issues.
