Management at the Tema Regional Office of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have resolved to ring-fence the accumulated bills for residents in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality between 2012 to 2017, to begin a new arrangement for paying bills from December 2017 to date.
According to them, all arrears will be spread over a period of two years so customers can have enough time to make payment.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagements for installation of pre-paid meters in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality last week at Odumase, as part of the road map for implementing the pre-paid metering system, Director for Customer Services, Anokye Abebrese, said the company has decided not to add outstanding bills on prepaid meters which are yet to be installed within the enclave.
“We ask that when you get your bill you visit any of our offices for your statement, which will show your bills from 2012 to 2017 that have been ring-fenced. We are going to set up reconciliation offices so customers that are not clear with their bills will go there for clarification. After distribution of the bills, customers will be given a maximum period of two years to clear and do follow-ups as part of their revenue collection activities to make sure they pay – or face disconnection.”
Mr. Abebrese noted that Somanya and Nuaso offices will be open partially for such purposes.
Managing Director at the Tema Regional Office of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Emmanuel Akinie, added that the estimated bills for customers are ready and will soon be distributed.
To him, now that they have access to reading meters, it will reduce drastically the estimated bills for residents. He recalled that during the recent impasse ECG staff found it very difficult to carry out their mandate of meter reading; as a result of which they had to estimate bills for customers. “We expect that when your bills are distributed, every customer has the right to move to our offices and demand a statement,” Mr. Akinie said.
Meanwhile, participants of the stakeholders’ engagement said the ring-fencing of their outstanding bills, as well as installation of the prepaid meters and opening the Somanya office for cash collection, is welcome news because going to Kpong to pay bills is a disincentive. They promised to disseminate the information to their members and help ECG exercise its mandate peacefully.
