VRCC owes ECG GH¢152,000

The Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) is reported to be owing the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) GH¢ 152,000.00 for non-payment of accumulated electricity bills.

To this end, the ECG resolved over two months ago to cut power supply to all departments under the Coordinating Council for non-payment of bills.

However, after months of negotiations between the company and the council, the two agreed on some terms of payment of the arrears.

As part of the payment terms, the ECG in the Volta Region has installed a new prepaid meter at the offices of the VRCC in Ho to curb the incessant indebtedness of the VRCC to the ECG.

The Regional Commercial Manager of ECG, Sylvester Abrefa-Besea, noted that the decision to install a prepaid meter for the council did not nullify the agreed schedule to settle the arrears.

“Installing a prepaid meter for the VRCC is mutually beneficial. While it makes it easy for ECG to collect our revenue, it prevents our customers from piling up debts while allowing them to control their electricity usage,” he said.

He added that “As a company policy, we adequately prepare our customers for the change when we are migrating them from using credit meters to prepaid meters.”

In the Volta Region, the ECG has rolled out the prepaid metering system in only two of its eleven operational districts. These are the Ho and Hohoe Districts.

The Ag Volta Regional General Manager of ECG, Ing. Bernard Tetteh, reiterated the company’s commitment to its plans to fully roll out the prepaid metering system throughout the region.

He said, “Going by our plans as a company, we hope to achieve 100% roll out within the Ho and Hohoe Districts soon to propel our roll out into all other districts.”

He hinted that many more Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including educational and health institutions will be migrated unto the prepaid platform soon.

As part of its aggressive revenue mobilisation drive, the ECG has already cut power supply to some key MDAs in the Volta Region, including the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and the regional National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) office, both in Ho.