ECG gives two-week ultimatum to defaulters in C/Region
The Central Regional office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has given defaulting institutions a two-week ultimatum to pay their debts or be disconnected.
The institutions, which include the Cape Coast Sports Stadium, the University of Cape Coast, the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and the GETFund Hostel at the University of Education, Winneba, owe the company over GHc24 million.
The ultimatum was issued after the company had served them demand notices to clear all arrears.
Default amount
The Cape Coast Teaching Hospital alone owes the ECG GHc2,177,859.10, while the Cape Coast Stadium project owes GHc451,522.26.
A number of residential and commercial customers in the Central Region owe the power company GHc24,824,834 million.
Disconnection
The ECG has already disconnected power supply to some of its defaulters, including Fruitland Limited at Assin Fosu, the Grains Development Board in Winneba and the Ayensu Starch Factory at Bawjiase.
Revenue recovery
The Central Regional Public Relations Officer of the ECG, Mr Isaac Nurris Ainooson, indicated in an interview that most of the consumers had ignored several reminders by the company to pay their bills.
He explained that the exercise formed part of a revenue recovery operation to retrieve money owed it by its customers as part of efforts to improve the revenue situation of the company.
Mr Ainooson bemoaned the high defaulting figures, saying they were hindering the ECG’s operations.
“How do we continue to provide safe, quality and reliable power supply when our money is locked up with customers?” he asked.
He, however, expressed the preparedness of the company to negotiate with the affected institutions on acceptable payment plans.
Prosecution
According to the Central Regional Commercial Manager of the ECG, Mr Mawudoefia Dotse Hlorlewu, the company would exhaust all available channels to retrieve money owed it.
“We will follow up with disconnection should they fail to clear all arrears and eventually resort to the courts, if need be, to retrieve our money,” he intimated.
