[ 2016-05-26 ]

ECG ‘taken aback’ by PURC directive

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) was taken
aback by Tuesday's directive of the Public
Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to suspend
the application of its new metering system, an
official of the Company has revealed.


Eric Asante, who is the Accra West Senior Public
Relations Officer, said the Company was aware of
the anomalies with the meters and was in
discussion with the PURC over how to compensate
customers.

“Although we were so surprised – because we
were in discussion with the PURC – I should add
that as a regulator, once” the Commission has
issued the directive, ECG must comply, he said on
TV3’s Midday Live on Wednesday, May 25.

He said the problems had been detected
one-and-a-half month ago.

“It is just the degree of error that is
overwhelming,” Mr Asante pointed out.

‘More fundamental’

Political leaders have weighed in on the issue
with the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho,
on Tuesday, May 24 tasking the Mines and Energy
Select Committee to get the Minister of Power to
furnish the House with clarification.

Some members of the House (MPs) notably Majority
Chief Whip Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak blamed ECG as
solely responsible, raising suspicion that its
staff may be sabotaging the Mahama-led
government.

But leader of the opposition New Patriotic Party
(NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo thinks the issue
goes beyond the power-distributing company.

“I think the matter is more fundamental and
should go further than that,” the former MP
suggested in a statement on Tuesday, May 24.

“If you look at the rates we are charging,
industry, as well as domestic users, for
electricity in Ghana, compared, for instance, to
Cote d’Ivoire, already, it puts our enterprises
in a very uncompetitive comparison.”

He said the situation is making Ghanaian
industries suffer “unnecessarily”.

Mr Asante has already indicated that the Company
will have a discussion with the PURC on the way
forward and not completely let the software go by
the board.

“The fact that there is wrong billing doesn’t
mean the entire software” is not good, he
stressed.

Source - tv3network.com|

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