Jomoro residents angry with ECG

Some residents of Half-Assini and Elubo in the Jomoro District of the Western Region will soon demonstrate against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over high tariffs.

According to the residents who use post-paid metres, they cannot fathom the astronomical increases in their current electricity bills.

They asserted that residents of Half-Assini and other adjoining communities in Jomoro, who used to pay GHC25 about two months ago, are expected to pay about GHC175 this month.

Even though the ECG claims that the recent tariff hike is about 50 percent, we are paying more than 100 percent hike, they stated.

The problem, DAILY GUIDE learnt, is not limited to Jomoro, since President John Mahama justified the payment of high tariffs in his recent interview on Sunrise Fm in Koforidua.

Lately monthly utility bills are even higher than rents in most part of the country, particularly in Accra where residents spend a lot on buying units.

The angry Jomoro residents, who were shocked at the exorbitant increment in their electricity bills, appealed to the chief of the area and some assembly members to intervene in the matter.

The people claimed they were summoned to the chief’s palace yesterday to submit photocopies of their bills for the two previous months and that of this month.

“To the chief’s surprise someone, who paid GHC20 or GHC25 for the previous months, is now going to pay GHC175, with the same appliances,” they indicated.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the impending demonstration by the residents is being spearheaded by one Alex Osborn Afful.

Mr Afful told the paper that the residents cannot pay the new bills owing to the current economic hardship in the country.

“The rate at which these electricity tariffs have been going up day-in-day-out in the country and Half-Assini in particular is alarming and has imposed untold hardship on the people. I think the government should do something about it,” he indicated.

Another resident, Isaac Asare, who corroborated the story, asserted that the chiefs in the area, who expressed dissatisfaction with the development, had even sounded the gong-gong to inform the residents not to pay the bills until staff of the ECG offered an explanation.

“In fact, we are fed up. How can we experience Dumsor and still be paying high electricity bills, how come?” he quizzed.

When DAILY GUIDE contacted the Western Regional Public Relations Officer of the ECG, Philip Osei Bonso, he attributed the situation to some challenges with its billing software.

According to him, due to the challenge with the software, customers using the post-paid metres were credited and not billed the right amount.

“And so it’s like the people paying two months bills this month, and the situation is not peculiar to the Jomoro area but those who use post-paid metres across the country,” he explained.

He indicated that he had already been to the Jomoro area to explain to the people on a radio programme and promised to visit them to interact with others during the week.