The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), is embarking on a revenue drive to collect some GH₵1.1 billion debt owed the company.

The exercise which started on Thursday, April 13 is targeted at households, companies as well as government institutions.

The company says it will use the exercise to clamp down on illegal power connections in the area.

In an interview aired on Joy FM’s Midday News on Thursday, the Corporate Communications Manager of NEDCo, Maxwell Kotoka indicated that the debt collection exercise is crucial.

This, he noted is because “it is the only measure that can save NEDCo from imminent collapse.”

“As it stands, we have in excess of 1.1 billion cedis … as it stands we also have to go back and buy the power, pay for it, pay the transmitter to bring the power before we can make it available for our customers on a sustainable basis.

“This can only happen when we collect the money. At this rate, we should have been doing this exercise yesterday [Wednesday] so we are already late. Today [Thursday] we are late and it cannot be beyond today,” he stated.

Meanwhile, an earlier statement issued by NEDCo urged customers in arrears to pay their bills immediately to avoid disconnection and payment of reconnection fees.

The statement said the NEDCo’s Head Office and Area Offices will be closed temporarily to allow for the full engagement of all staff, including top management in this exercise but said their customer service centres, zonal offices and third-party vendors will remain open to attend to customers including reconnections.