Though established in January 2000 under the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) Act 1997 (Act 538), much of the population in the Volta Region are yet to know much about the Commission, its mandate, powers and procedures.
Mr Philip Agbezudor, the Volta Regional Manager of the Commission, got this impression after interacting with students and staff of the Adidome and Juapong-Dorfor Senior High schools under a special programme dubbed “Catch them Young”.
“Most people are still unaware about the existence of the Commission as they were surprised an institution like this exists to put utilities in order,” Mr Agbezudor said.
“Thorough education campaign especially on radio must be undertaken so as to reach out to wider coverage so that more people would be informed.” he said in a report.
He said, students in second cycle schools are also useful channels for popularizing the Commission and what it was established to do.
Mr Agbezudor appealed to the students to be critical of the operations of utility providers and be crusaders for more efficient use of utility services at home and in school; regular payment of utility bills by their parents and exposure of illegal utility service connections.
He took the students and their teachers through the functions and powers of the Commission.
Some of the questions asked were the differences between Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Volta River Authority (VRA), the cost of a new meter and its installation and whether the connection of electricity to a new house included the cost of cables.
Others are the length of time required for application for a new meter to be approved, procedures for service to be connected to new premises and meter transfer.
They suggested that the utility companies train their workers on customer satisfaction.**
