Audit of ECG billing system concluded; Relief for consumers soon — Jinapor
Electricity consumers should expect relief as the issues relating to the billing system of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will be reduced to the barest minimum soon, the Deputy Minister of Power, Mr John Jinapor, has said.
Advertisement
In an exclusive interview in Accra yesterday, he said the task force set up by the Ministry of Power to audit the billing system had completed its work and that based on its recommendations, the President had tasked the ministry and the ECG to rectify the challenges by the end of this month.
“We have identified the key challenges and made recommendations to the government, based on which the President has tasked us to rectify them,” he said.
Complaints
Many consumers of electricity are said to be paying above the 59.2 per cent increment which took effect in December 2015.
Unable to contain their frustration, some of them stormed offices of the ECG to vent their spleen on its officials.
The Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), as a result of the huge public outcry, ordered the ECG to suspend the use of its new billing software until further notice.
Also, following complaints by electricity consumers, the Ministry of Power inaugurated a task force to conduct an audit into the ECG meters and also check the software used by the company in its billing system.
The task force was tasked to run parallel meter checks to evaluate the integrity of the meters and submit its report to the ministry within one month.
Other Trending Stories
Challenges
The report submitted by the task force, Mr Jinapor said, revealed that there were irregularities in the billing of some consumers, for which reason those consumers were paying more than they should.
He also indicated that there were delays in the processing of some of the electricity bills, a situation which led to the accumulation of the bills of some consumers.
Recommendations
Therefore, he said, as part of the recommendations, “the ECG will come up with a good response time, so that if anybody has challenges, the company can work on them quickly”.
“The report also recommended that consumers’ bills should be submitted to them on time to avoid accumulation of bills”.
He further said the report recommended the need to increase public education on how the tariffs were calculated, so that people would know the various categories.
It also asked the PURC to simplify the tariff adjustment system to make it easier to understand.
New software to check units
Mr Jinapor said a system that would allow consumers to check the units of power used and corresponding bills was in the pipeline.
“There is a system where at the end of the month you can text the units you consumed to a short code and then it will send you a feedback of how much you are supposed to pay, so that if it doesn’t correspond with the bill that is submitted, then you can notify the ECG,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he said, there would be continued detailed independent audit of the new billing software, so that all bottom-line issues would be resolved.
ECG workers
Touching on the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) demand that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) retract its directive to the ECG to suspend the use of the new billing software, he said the ministry was yet to receive a formal complaint or official letter from the union.
However, he said the ministry was meeting with the management of the ECG and the union this week to resolve all issues amicably.
Workers of the ECG have given the PURC a seven-day ultimatum to retract its directive to the ECG to suspend the implementation of the new billing system.
Advertisement
The workers threatened to withdraw their services if the PURC did not heed their call, as they had faced harassment and intimidation from the public since the announcement of the directive on May 24, 2016.