The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has urged the Electricity Company of Ghana to resolve widespread challenges being experienced by pre-paid customers across the country. Some pre-paid customers have complained of outrageous charges imposed on them by the ECG, even though they have pre-financed their power purchase.
Reacting to the issue in a press statement, the IES called for an immediate resolution of the problem since it is creating discomfort for customers whose power supply has been disconnected.
“These customers who have pre-financed the use of electricity at a later time are having their electricity credits being converted to debits. That the more a customer buys power to be used, the more that customer owes the ECG – resulting in many homes and workplaces being disconnected,” it said.
According to the IES, the affected customers are compelled to pay for the unwarranted bills before they can be credited with any new power purchases and have electricity supplied.
“The failure to pay for the wrong billing and have power supplied within a certain period also delays the power restoration, even when additional purchases have been made,” the statement said, explaining that “it takes field technicians of the ECG to go to homes and other outlets to reset meters before power can be restored”.
The process, IES lamented, takes hours and days to fix – creating an inconvenient situation for customers.
Touching on the need to ensure that Ghanaians receive reliable power during the festive season, the IES underscored the importance for power supply in enhancing security, productivity, as well as helping events organisation – and, importantly, more so during Christmas and New year when families will stay at home.
“The IES as a result wishes to call on the Minister of Energy to as a matter of urgency direct the ECG to fix these challenges which are greatly inconveniencing legitimate customers of the ECG,” the statement stressed.
