Three utilities pay GH¢8m compensation, refunds
Consumers of electricity and water, who suffered disruptions, over billing and other diservice at the hands of three public utility companies, received about ¢8million as compensation and refunds last year.
The amount went into settling the claims of 2,549 consumers who lodged complaints with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).
The process is in accordance with the Public Utilities (Complaints Procedure) Regulations 2000(LI1665).
A statement issued by the Director, Public Relations and External Affairs of the PURC, categorised the complaints as over billing, acquisition of faulty meters, outage associated with faults, unlawful or wrongful disconnections, quality of service and damaged equipment.
The figure means that on the average, there were almost seven complaints daily, which resulted in the payment of about GH¢22,000 daily in 2014.
Notable among the compensations were a burnt house, which attracted a compensation of GH¢185,000, and a company whose disputed bill was reduced from GH¢8,012,588.09 to GH¢1,440,676.
The statement said the refunds and compensation were given to consumers of water and electricity by the ECG, NEDCo and the GWCL after the intervention of the PURC.
Procedure
The statement urged consumers of electricity and water to “complain to the public utility in the first instance, but where a complaint made directly to a utility is not satisfactorily dealt with by the utility service provider, the complaint must be redirected to the commission for an appropriate redress.”
A complaint to the Commission may be written or oral. Any Public utility that contravenes the Provisions of the Public Utilities (Complaints Procedure) Regulations 2000(LI1665) will be liable to pay the prescribed penalty units or imprisonment for one year or both.
Under the PURC Act 1997(Act 538), the commission may apply to the High Court for the enforcement of its decisions and directions.
Comsumer Protection Agency
Reacting to the news of the compensation, the Chief Executive of the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), Mr Kofi Kapito, commended the work of the PURC but said the figures could have been more, if the commission was more visible to consumers.
Mr Kapito, who urged the PURC to share its data with the public, said the commission needed to do more than what it was doing and also be more transparent with its data.
