Mahama Shuts down Flagstaff House central air conditioner

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has begun the installation of prepaid meters at the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA).

This means that the MDAs will, henceforth, be buying units unto their meters as done in any ordinary Ghanaian home.

This follows a directive by President John Mahama to the ECG to install prepaid meters at MDAs and bungalows of government appointees.

The Herald is informed that President Mahama has shutdown the high voltage central air-condition inside the Flagstaff House to regulate the use of power.

Low power consuming standing fans have been bought for most of the offices to ventilate their rooms, as part of the austerity measures taken by the government to conserve resources for other competing national demands.

Among those affected are Dr. Clement Apaak and some others.

In the case of the various MDAs, it is, however, not clear whether attempts will be made by the government to regulate the use of electrical gadgets to ensure the judicious use of units.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the ECG, William Boateng said, the process to replace post-paid meters is almost complete.

“I know that so far 16 MDAs have been covered in Accra. We have covered almost 90 percent, and we are left with few, where the load is above the prepaid meter ratings,” he intimated to Joy FM.

William Boateng later mentioned to The Herald, the Energy and Petroleum Ministry, Food and Agriculture Ministry, the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, as those connected with the prepaid meters.

Others are Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Transport Ministry and Roads and Highways Ministry.

The rest are; Lands and Forestry Ministry, State Enterprises Commission, Ministry of Communication, Trade and Industry Ministry, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Department of Urban Roads, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The management of ECG, led by Mr. William Hutton-Mensah, expressed appreciation to the government for the directive.

He explained to The Herald that the move puts money into the company’s coffers, to support investments, unlike previously where the company had to be chasing the MDAs for months or years to retrieve electricity bills owed it.

Meanwhile, addressing managers of electricity in other West African countries at a conference in Accra, the Divisional Manager in charge of Revenue Protection at ECG, David Asamoah, indicated that it has prosecuted eight persons for theft of electric power.

This comes at a time the company is finding new measures to minimize system losses in production.