Energy and water consumers have been urged to use appropriate procedures in lodging of complaints instead of filing cases in the courts.
This was said over the weekend by the chairman of Energy and Water Utility Regulatory Authority Consumer Consultative Council (EWURA-CCC), Professor Jamidu Katima during the ongoing exhibition on Public Service Week at Mnazi Mmoja grounds in Dar es Salaam.
He said that poor understanding by some consumers of the services on proper procedures of lodging their complaints had made them file cases in courts instead of using the procedures set by EWURA.
Prof Katima said that taking the complaints to the courts is the biggest challenge by consumers of the services regulated by EWURA because the system caused delays in resolving the complaints because the courts had no jurisdiction in working on issues which are being regulated.
He explained that the proper legal procedure of lodging complaints on energy and water services is the consumer to identify the problem in writing and submit to the service provider and if not satisfied on how the service provider had responded to the problem the consumer can take it to EWURA for further actions.
“For example a customer has been disconnected to water and electricity services of buy substandard oil instead of going direct to the respective service provider a person goes to police of court as a result the case takes too long and at the end of the day he or she is advised to take the complaints to EWURA”, said Prof Katima .
He said chapter 414 of the law governing the establishment of Ewura is clear and gives power to the regulatory body to work on the consumers complaints and it also recommends the establishment of special organ to deal with the complaints.
Prof Katima noted that the ruling by Ewura is similar with the high court judgment and can be challenged by the complainants by appealing to the “Fair Competition Tribunal”.
He also insisted the importance of education to consumers of the energy and water services for them to understand procedures of lodging and resolving complaints.
He said EWURA- CCC play an important role to educate the public and also sensitise consumers to report any challenges they encounter when getting the services.
Prof Katima called upon consumers to use the ongoing public service week exhibitions to visit Ewura- CCC so that they can be educated on proper procedures of lodging complaints.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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