BYERA LAUNCHES 1ST ELECTRICITY SERVICE CLINIC IN YENAGOA
Stakeholders Pledge “Working Together” For Reliable Power
By Chris Mark
The Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency, BYERA, on Thursday launched its 1st Electricity Service Clinic in Yenagoa, describing it as a landmark initiative to ensure electricity regulation is felt directly by consumers.
The event, held at the Alameiyesegha Banquet Hall with the theme ‘Working Together to Make Reliable Electricity a Reality in Bayelsa State’, had in attendance BYERA, Bayelsa Electricity Distribution Company, BYEDC, Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, and hundreds of electricity consumers to address metering, billing, outages, tariffs and complaints.
In a message to participants, BYERA Director-General, Dr. RosaLyn Dressman, said the clinic was designed to address years of unresolved complaints, estimated billing, metering challenges, prolonged outages, disputed accounts and wrongful disconnections.
“For too long, many electricity consumers have lived with unresolved complaints, estimated bills, metering challenges, prolonged outages, disputed accounts, wrongful disconnections and uncertainty about their rights and responsibilities,” Dr. Dressman stated.
“This Service Clinic is our response. It brings the regulator, electricity service providers and consumers together in one place to listen, explain, resolve and act.”
Speaking on the theme, the DG noted that transforming the sector requires collective responsibility.
“Government must provide leadership. Regulators must enforce fairness and accountability. Service providers must deliver. Consumers must be informed and responsible. Communities must protect electricity infrastructure. Investors must have confidence in the market. When these responsibilities come together, progress becomes possible,” she said.
Dr. Dressman added that BYERA is committed to building an electricity market that is “transparent, responsive, fair, investment-friendly and firmly centred on consumer protection.”
Key focus areas, according to her, include promoting metering, improving service standards, encouraging responsible investment, strengthening complaint resolution, protecting electricity infrastructure and ensuring stronger accountability.
Outlining the agency’s commitment, she said, “Every consumer deserves to be heard. Every complaint deserves attention. Every service provider must be accountable. And every community in Bayelsa deserves the opportunity to experience reliable electricity.”
She urged consumers to “speak, ask questions, present your complaint, and demand clarity,” while also reminding them of their responsibilities as customers and citizens.
“This Service Clinic is therefore more than an event. It is the beginning of a new culture of engagement between the electricity consumer and the institutions responsible for electricity service,together, we can build an electricity sector worthy of the aspirations of Bayelsa State.”
In his address, the Chairman of BYERA, Hon. Austin Adigio said the clinic was a direct product of Governor Douye Diri’s political will to take ownership of electricity regulation in the state.
“For too long the conversation around power has been about complaints. Today we are changing the conversation to one of collaboration and solutions,” he said.
He stressed that reliable power is “the engine for jobs, for healthcare, for education and for small businesses that drive our economy.” “When the light stays on, Bayelsa prospers,” he added, noting that electricity is a major plank of the Governor’s “Prosperity Government” mantra.
The Chairman urged consumers to present their bills, meter numbers and account details, describing the clinic as “your platform to be heard, to seek clarity and to get issues resolved on the spot.”
He charged the Discos to show “transparency, accountability and swift action on every complaint raised here,” while assuring that BYERA will “regulate with public interest, with fairness but firmness and a commitment to consumer protection.”
Speaking at the clinic, the General Manager of BYEDC, Engr Nosakhare Ooro, said the Disco is now delivering improved supply to parts of the state through a combination of the national grid and the state-owned gas turbine.
“From my presentation today, marketing power will not just be a job for one man. It is what all of us stakeholders, the regulators, the operators, that’s BYEDC, and the consumers, have to be part of the process,” the GM said.
He disclosed that some customers are now enjoying “twenty hours on a daily basis.”
The GM explained that while some areas are fed from the national grid through the “Government House feeder,” other parts are also tied to the gas turbine.
“There are some parts that are tied to the turbine that are also enjoying that twenty four hours in the day from the turbine,” he stated. “Sometimes it gets from gas turbine, sometimes it gets from national grid. Both.”
He however noted that vandalism remains a major challenge.
“One of the major challenges is unauthorized people having access to the network. They go there, vandalize transformers, they carry the cables, cut the lines. That affects both the customer and the service provider,” he said.
A stakeholder at the event, Mr. Adebanjo Oluwatobi, commended the initiative.
“I think it is the first of its kind to have this kind of engagement with the customers, to have the feel of the customers and interact with them so that it will help you in your planning subsequently. So it’s a good one,” he said.
He added that such direct engagement “should be sustained.”
Highpoint of the event was the formal ceremonial presentation of the licence certificate to BYEDC by BYERA, marking the official operational mandate of the state-owned Disco in Bayelsa.
