Stakeholders Seek Improved Customer Engagement, Service Delivery From MainPower

Stakeholders of MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited have called on the company to strengthen customer engagement and improve service delivery, particularly in the areas of complaint resolution, staff conduct and metering.

The calls were made on Thursday during a stakeholders’ engagement organised by the electricity distribution company in Enugu as part of activities marking its ongoing Safety Week.

The stakeholders urged the company to sustain regular engagement sessions at both state and district levels to ensure rapid resolution of customers’ complaints and foster better communication between management and electricity consumers.

Chairman of the Naija Inclusive Electricity Customer Advocacy Intervention, Chinedu Ugwu, commended the management of MainPower for establishing a Quick Response Team to address technical faults promptly.

He, however, noted that several unresolved complaints, especially technical issues, had remained unattended to for years.

“Yes, we commend MainPower management for recently setting up the Quick Response Team to attend to technical faults promptly. However, there is backlog of complaints logged already which needed to be cleared,” he said.

Ugwu stressed that sustained engagement with stakeholders and customers would enable the company to better understand the concerns and challenges faced by electricity consumers.

“It is only through constant stakeholders’ engagement at the state and district levels that customers can easily interface with management directly and for them to understand customers’ complaints and pains,” he added.

A customer, Chris Ozobu, called on the company to improve customer relations, especially the conduct of field workers in their interactions with consumers.

“Someone that is serving the public should be humane, friendly and speak to customers with the highest sense of responsibility and courtesy,” Ozobu said.

Another customer, Anthony Nwele, appealed to the company to remove residents within the Maryland axis of Enugu from the estimated billing system.

According to him, electricity supply in the area had remained epileptic since January, while estimated bills issued to customers had remained high despite poor supply.

Responding, the Managing Director of MainPower, Ernest Mupwaya, disclosed that the company planned to provide prepaid meters to about 75,000 unmetered customers in Enugu State within the next two years.

“We are planning through special arrangements and some interventions to provide prepaid meters to 40,000 customers this year and another 40,000 in 2027 to take care of the remaining outstanding,” he said.

Mupwaya also assured stakeholders that the company would intensify staff training and retraining to improve customer relations and ensure better supervision of field personnel.

“MainPower will make its staff training and retraining more frequent for positive staff re-orientation and ensure closer supervision to ensure what is learnt is practised in the field to get our customers served better,” he said.

He added that the company would work out modalities for continuous engagement with stakeholders and customers to enhance feedback and improve service delivery in line with international best practices.

The managing director further disclosed that the company had invested millions of naira in fixing faults and addressing installation breakdowns, noting that the Quick Response Team system would help reduce repair response time and improve customer experience.

Mupwaya expressed optimism that electricity supply in Enugu State would improve significantly once the proposed 660-megawatt coal-fired power plant initiated by the state government becomes operational.

“It will be a huge electricity turnaround,” he said.