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ECG embarks on revenue mobilisation exercise again

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1 year ago

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The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has begun a one- week revenue mobilisation targeted at mainly residential and non-residential customers in its operational areas.

The exercise, which ends on Friday, June 2, 2023, is aimed at retrieving over GhC2 billion from indebted customers.

Under the initiative, the ECG is deploring over 4,000 staff to the premises of customers to retrieve money owe it.

The Director of Communications of the ECG, William Boateng, who made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the exercise would also be used to test a new software application by the company to capture persons who had used power illegally on its database.

Month-long

Between March 20 and April 20 this year, the ECG embarked on a revenue mobilisation exercise to recoup all debts owed it.

At the end of the exercise, the company recovered GH¢3.1 billion out of the targeted GH¢5.7 billion.

Mr Boateng noted that after the one month successful revenue mobilisation which saw the mobilisation of GH¢3.1 billion , the board had given management an approval to roll-out the one week programme beginning May 29, 2023 to Friday, June 2, 2022 to retrieve money owed it by residents and non-residents.

“This particular one-week exercise would not concentrate on special load (SLT) tariff customers.

It means that we are excluding the SLT; companies and industries.

 This is because we have a taskforce already in place which is concentrating on the SLTs.

So, already it is taking care of the SLTs for us,” he said.

The residential and the non-residential customers, he said, comprised persons using electricity for commercial activities like operating shops, saloons, supermarkets, cold stores and babering facilities, adding that “these are small businesses that fall under its commercial operations although they are not SLTFs which are much bigger and consume a huge amount of power”.

According to the ECG Director of Communications, the revenue mobilisation exercise was also being used to test-run an application by the company to capture other persons that were not in the data of the ECG.

“So if you don’t have a meter and you are using electricity, you have done illegal connection and we would regularise you instantly and then put you in the system and on a flat rate to start paying as a customer of ECG,” he said.

“Unlike previously where we would have to disconnect you and then you come to our office, we surcharge you … and after that if the customer pays and then decides not to use the electricity again but would still go and steal, that would not happen again.

“So long as you are using the electricity we would regularise you,” he emphasised.

Asked whether it meant there would be no punitive measures for engaging in such illegal activity, he said the company would determine  how it would go about it.

The idea behind the new exercise, he said, was that the company did not want anybody in its operational area to consume electricity without paying.

Flat rate

Again, Mr Boateng said after the exercise, the company would next week launch the flat rate system, where people who did not have meters but had paid, would be given flat rates to pay.

“By next week, we are going to launch a flat rate system.

We have customers who have paid but don’t have meters and have been waiting.

What we want to do is that if you want electricity and you apply and we don’t have meters and the customer wants the flat rate, we would look at the size of your building and all your electrical appliances and give you a flat rate.

If you want to wait for the meter too, we would do that,” he said.

That, he said, would replace the previous situation where people paid and had to wait for months with ‘goro’ boys also taking advantage of the situation.

Customers

He said staff who would be undertaking the revenue mobilisation would have their identification cards for verification by customers.

He also said there was an application with a staff portal to also check as well.

“In fact, staff have been directed that if the customer requests their identity, they must make their details available so that he/she would give them all the support and unfettered access in terms of work at their place,” he said.

He warned that in the course of the exercise, there would be disconnections and, therefore, charged customers to settle their indebtedness to the company so that it could have the revenue to also pay the independent power producers, among other things.  

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Energy

ECG denies ‘Dumsor’, rules out load-shedding timetable

Published

9 months ago

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March 13, 2024

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The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has reassured the public that there is no need for a load-shedding timetable despite recent power interruptions.

In response to concerns about power supply challenges, ECG stated that the current issues do not warrant the implementation of a load-shedding timetable.

Laila Abubakar, the External Communications Manager at ECG, clarified that the recent power cuts may be due to other factors and emphasized that the notorious ‘dumsor’ phenomenon has not returned.

She assured the public that ECG’s management is diligently working to address the challenges facing the power sector.

“The thing is, we just want people to be aware that when your power goes off, it is not always a matter of load shedding. There are several issues and there are some of them that fall before the doorsteps of ECG. We are doing as much as possible to solve the ones that we can.”

“There aren’t any issues with shedding load. The load shed, I think is what people understand by ‘Dumsor’. But usually, when someone asks me if, there is Dumsor, I ask them what do you understand and what do you think ‘Dumsor’ means. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be a timetable,” she insisted.

Meanwhile, John Abdulai Jinapor, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, has asserted that the ongoing power outages in various parts of the country stem from financial constraints rather than faulty transformers.

Mr Jinapor refuted claims by the ECG that the outages were due to transformer repairs, alleging that the root cause is a shortfall in electricity generation capacity.

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Energy

ECG Ashaiman District uncovers 130 illegal connections

Published

9 months ago

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March 13, 2024

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The Ashaiman District of the Electricity Company of Ghana has discovered a total of 130 illegal connections within its operational area over a three day period.

The discoveries, which were part of a revenue mobilisation project the district was embarking on was started on Monday, March 4, 2024.

Speaking on the progress of the activities to media professionals, the Manager for the District, Ing. Kissi Ohenebeng mentioned that “with the 130 illegal connections seen, summons were given to the respective customers who started reporting to the office from Tuesday, March 5, 2024, to rectify the issues identified.”

He added that “over the three days that the project had been ongoing, his outfit, with support from a number of staff from eight other districts as well as the regional office of the Tema Region of the company had been able to visit over 5000 customers of the power distributor”.

Ing. Ohenebeng, when asked about possible prosecution of those caught with illegal connections indicated that “indeed should customers default in payments, the company is always ready to explore the possibility of addressing the situation at the court”.

He further added that “illegal connection is basically stealing, which makes it a criminal offence and admonished customers to desist from such acts as the consequences could be unpleasant.”

The Ashaiman District of the ECG is under the Tema Region, which also has Tema North, Tema South, Afienya, Prampram, Ada, Nungua, Juapong, Krobo Districts. Staff were deployed from all over the region to Ashaiman District to support the special revenue mobilisation exercise.

The Acting General Manager of the ECG Tema Region, Ing. Daniel Asare-Mensah on his part, encouraged customers to “be ready to pay for power consumed and to pay on time to avoid debt build up.”

Ing. Asare-Mensah indicated that the Ashaiman exercise would end by close of day Friday, March 8, 2024, while a similar project with support from the region’s workforce will be replicated in the other districts.

He also indicated that the Afienya and Prampram Districts will be the next to run such special revenue mobilisation exercises.

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Energy

ECG Replacing 450,000 Old Metres In Accra West Region

Published

9 months ago

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March 8, 2024

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The Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd. (ECG) has commenced an exercise to replace over 450,000 old metres in the Accra West region.

The Company over the course of the exercise would be replacing postpaid, non-smart prepaid and faulty metres in the region with MMS-compliant smart prepaid metres, over the next five months.

The metre replacement exercise is part of the Company’s Loss Reduction Programme (LRP); an initiative to facilitate the installation of smart meters, and to improve energy accounting.

The programme aims to ensure the availability of metres to meet service connection requests and reduce system losses.

The Accra West region General Manager of ECG, Ing. Emmanuel Akinie assured customers of the convenience that the smart prepaid meters offer.

“With the smart prepaid metres, a customer can buy credits unto their metres from the comfort of their homes or anywhere they are, by downloading the ECG Power app, or using the short code *226#”, he said.

Mr. Akinie revealed that the officers undertaking the replacement exercise will identify themselves with official letters from ECG, authorizing their activity, and assured that outstanding balances on the old metre will be accounted for, and transferred to the customers’ new smart prepaid metre.

He said the metre replacement exercise is free, hence encouraged customers to allow the officers into their premises to replace their old metres.

Districts in the Accra West region are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korlebu and Nsawam.

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