Africa-Press – Tanzania. ENERGY and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) has called on the need for the service providers to observe legal requirements and adhere to quality standards.
This was stated on Monday, by Ewura’s Northern Zone Manager Engineer Lorivii Long’idu when opening an awareness seminar for the Northern Zone’s Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) staff, which was held in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region.
Eng Long’idu, who represented the Ewura Acting Director General Eng Godfrey Chibulunje, said the seminar was based on regulatory tools, reliability indices and compliance monitoring inspection services.
“Ewura has set up a system to educate service providers so that they carry out their activities by sticking to legal requirements and adhere to quality standards to enhance the safety of citizens and their property and also reduce complaints,” he said.
He added, “Ewura decided to organize this seminar after realising that various customer complaints stemmed from a limited understanding of the existing service providing codes, thus not fully complying with them”.
Eng Long’idu said that the participants will receive a variety of education including the Electricity General Regulation, 2020, as well as to provide them with an audit report conducted in all Northern Zone districts and regions.
“The participants will be provided with information on the results of the inspections conducted in each district and region, they will also be provided with customer care service training and consultation, along with getting an education on the principles of regulating the electrical installation services,” he said.
Speaking at the workshop, Tanesco Zonal Principal Distribution Engineer Eng Charles Urio said the power utility has already started setting up response centres at district level to move emergency services closer to its customers.
“The organised workshop will help us (Tanesco workers) and other service providers to understand what our customers need as well as the challenges they face while receiving our services,” he said.
On his part, Ewura Principal Electricity Inspector Eng Evarist Simon said that the authority conducted inspections in various areas and identified several challenges facing clients, a situation that prompted relevant authorities to organize the seminar.
“During the inspection, we conducted monitoring of projects implemented by contractors licensed by Ewura to ensure that the implemented projects meet the construction standards so that customers receive services that are safe for them,” he said.
He described the achievements of the inspections as including the fact that it identified several shortcomings in the provision of customer service and the ability to address them.
“I am optimistic that this seminar will be an eye opener for the participants who will use its (seminar) findings to address the shortcomings if they arise in the future”, he said.
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