Participants at PURC forum complain about poor service

Contributors at a forum held by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in Kumasi have expressed anger and discomfort about the ongoing load-shedding by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and demanded a quick fix of the production shortfall.

The purpose of the forum was to enable the PURC to gauge public opinion on the performance of the Ghana Water Company (GWC) and the ECG and also to afford the companies an opportunity to lay bare the challenges they are faced with.

It was held under the theme, “Ensuring quality of service delivery in the electricity and water sectors”, and brought together officials from GRIDCo, Volta River Authority (VRA), GWC, ECG, traditional rulers, assembly members and utility services consumers in Kumasi and the Obuasi Municipality.

They complained that the frequent power cuts were not only badly hurting their businesses but posed a major source of worry and inconvenience to consumers.

Nana Darko Montwi II, Paramount Chief of Maabang Traditional Area, said it was time the government took bold steps to increase the power production.

He underlined the need to explore other alternative energy sources and more private involvement in the power generation mix.

This, he said, was necessary to break the monopoly, introduce competition and bring about some level of efficiency in service delivery.

Another chief, Nana Frimpong Afoakwa, said consumers would naturally not be prepared to readily pay their bills when they are not satisfied with the quality of service.

He appealed to the public to assist expose those who had illegally tapped into the water and power mains.

Other concerns raised by the people, had to do with metre acquisition and billing systems.

Mr J.K. Yankey, Ashanti Regional Manager of the GWC, said the high cost of treating polluted water had become a major headache to the company.

For example, they spent an average of about GH¢14,000.00 on the treatment of water for people in the Obuasi municipality due to the activities of illegal miners, he said.

Dr. N.K. Smart-Yeboah, Director of Customer Services of the ECG, said they were doing everything to address the challenges.

The Reverend Togbe Fugah, President of Wood Village Workers Association, suggested that some industrial establishments and institutions should be excluded from the ongoing load shedding.