THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), on Monday, September 11, 2023, launched a Power Outage Reporting App (PORS) at its headquarters in Abuja to monitor power disruption across the country and edge the country closer to stable electricity.
Media reports state that the PORS, according to the Commission, is an online initiative to make the complaint resolution process easier and faster for its customers.
Speaking at the launch, Aisha Mahmud, NERC’s Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, said the launch, using the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) as a pilot, was in partnership with the electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
She said: “If you have a complaint, what you need to do is download the app, input your meter number and then, after that, log in with your complaint. The app will automatically send a confirmation to the customer on that particular feeder of yours by notifying if there is really an outage.
“If there is, then we need about two to three customers to confirm that there’s an outage on that particular feeder. As soon as they confirm that, the App will send the confirmation to the DisCos with a resolution timeline, and, as soon as the DisCo resolves this complaint, then the DisCo will update the app saying, ‘We’ve resolved this complaint’ and the app will automatically send another confirmation request to those customers on that particular feeder.”
“Now, the customer can easily reach out to the DisCos, and of course, we are trying to fulfil our regulatory obligation here to make sure that customers get the best service that they need.
“With this App that we are launching today, customers don’t have to walk or drive down to the distribution company to report an outage,” she added.
She stated that the intention of commissioning the app is to make the work of the DisCos much easier.
