ECG to Wage War On Power Thieves

The Managing Director of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Fred Asante has assured the public that a team will be set up which will check and identify people found guilty of illegal connection, and offenders will be prosecuted.

According to him, ECG is planning to set-up more communication centres where people will have the opportunity to lodge their complaints concerning the performance of the company.

Answering questions from the public and the media at a public forum in Accra on Wednesday, he said street lights would be provided at areas where there are currently none, as consumers are not satisfied paying for street lights while they have none in their areas.

To this end, he said the district assemblies are responsible for providing street lights in the country.

He said the lights have been installed with funding from the Ministry of Energy. In response to complaints regarding incorrect bills as a result of faulty metres by consumers, he revealed a new electricity metre that would entail paying for electricity in advance.

He said it would be easier to keep control of how much is spent on electricity at all times.

However, the downside of this is the cost, which he estimated at 5 to 10 times greater than the rate paid on a normal metre.

Mr. Kusi Asare Agyei, a representative of Accra Brewery Ltd (ABL) advised the company to inform them when there is going to be power interruption as this tends to destroy some of their machines.

He appealed to ECG to inform ABL in order that they reschedule their production process.

A representative of an area in Madina that has been without water since November berated the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL) for their failure to deal with the numerous complaints lodged with the company by the residents of her area.

Meanwhile, Nana S. K. B. Asante, chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) said the concern of the commission was to fashion out a regulatory framework to ensure that the utilities provided to the public are safe, adequate, reliable and cost effective.

Elaborating, he said that the commission has instituted a number of mechanisms to ensure that the commission regulates the sector sufficiently.

This will be achieved through a reporting format that will enable them to carry out trend analysis of the utilities sector.

He gave the purpose of the forum as providing opportunity for the general public to seek answers on specific and general issues relating to quality of service.

He added that an intensification of the collaborative process between consumers and the utility sector was a potential way forward to solving the "enormous" problems that beset the sector.