Mathatisi Sebusi
THE Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) has been accused of failing to address customer complaints within the required timeframe during the 2023/2024 financial year, leading to many cases being escalated to the Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority (LEWA).
This was revealed in LEWA’s recently released?annual?report for the 2023/2024 financial year.
According to the report, LEC is legally obligated to resolve 90% of customer complaints within two weeks. However, the company failed to meet this standard, with none of the complaints resolved within the required timeframe.
“Although the company was able to resolve 94% of the complaints lodged, this was achieved beyond the two-week target,” the report stated.
LEC received approximately 7662 complaints related to prepaid metering, meter accuracy, delayed service connections, and customer service during the reporting period. These delays in resolution led to 49 complaints being escalated to LEWA, seven of which were carried over from the previous reporting period.
“As of the end of the review period, 46 complaints had been resolved, while three were still under review.”
Contacted for comment, the LEC Stakeholder Relations Manager, Makhetha Motšoari, acknowledged the delays in resolving complaints and cited various challenges that hinder timely responses, including legal disputes and cases involving electricity connection fraud.
“Some delays are caused by court cases stemming from disputes among community members over electricity connections. For instance, disputes arise when individuals who initially agreed to community connection schemes later withdraw, leading to conflicts that require court rulings before we can proceed,” Mr Motšoari said.
He also noted that connection fraud contributed?to the delays.
“Investigating such cases takes time. Police investigations and legal proceedings must be completed before we can reconnect electricity.”
Mr Motšoari also defended the company saying the delays were not due to negligence or malpractice by LEC.
“The numbers may look bad, but many of these cases involve disputes or criminal activities, which naturally take longer to resolve. We compiled a detailed report on these cases and submitted it to LEWA.”
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