The Electricity Company of Ghana has commenced a nationwide exercise to capture the consumption of customers and ensure all customers pay their bills.

The exercise which commenced on November 6 will end on December 11.

Addressing the media, the General Manager of ECG Volta Region, Christina Jatoe-Kaleo confirmed that the exercise is ongoing in all eleven Districts in Volta and Oti Regions, namely; Denu, Keta, Akatsi, Sogakope, Ho, Kpeve, Kpando, Hohoe, Jasikan, Nkwanta and Dambai.

The ECG Volta Regional General Manager added that the company has moved away from capturing meter readings manually and has digitized the process to inspire confidence from our customers.

According to Ms. Christina Jatoe-Kaleo, the exercise will see ECG officials visit the premises of customers to capture the consumption of their meters, verify meter readings, check the integrity of meters and also engage customers in arrears to pay their bills.

“In previous revenue mobilization exercises, we went out in our numbers to ensure customers in arrears paid their debt and this was successful because we were able to visit a lot of customers since we had enough staff on the field. In view of this, we want to replicate the same exercise but this time around we are going out in our numbers to visit all our meters to capture the consumption of customers in addition to the revenue mobilization," she said.

Ms. Jatoe-Kaleo explained that when the ECG Officials get to the premises of a customer, “ they have a POS device which enables them to capture and verify the meter readings of customers and also take pictures of the readings and the meter. Once they capture this information, our back office receives the information instantly for billing process to commence. With the POS device, customers who even want an instant bill can request it from the ECG Officials and their Current bill will be printed from the device for them immediately”.

Ms. Jatoe-Kaleo indicated that as part of the ongoing exercise, ECG staff have been well equipped to train customers on how to read their meters as part of efforts to promote transparency between the company and its customers so all customers should take an interest in the activities of our staff when they visit their premises and avail themselves for this education.

She added that with the digitized system, it is end to end and now the customers can see what is happening which is a step in the right direction in building confidence and being transparent with our customers. “Once customers can see what is happening, we will all be on the same page”, she added.

“The idea is that moving forward, customers can even submit their readings at the end of every month and their bill will be generated for them, hence this education. The ECG PowerApp has a feature that enables customers to submit their meter readings and receive their bills to make it easy for them to pay their bills on time so after this exercise, we will commence a robust education campaign to help our customers use the ECG PowerApp submit their readings for prompt billing”, she explained.

The ECG Volta Regional General Manager indicated that ECG Officials can be identified by their ID Cards, the reflector vests or by clicking the Verify Staff option on the ECG PowerApp or shortcode *226#

“When we get to your premises and you are not there, the team will leave a note with a phone number so please call the number and our Customer Service Team will attend to you”, she added.

This digitized system forms part of the company’s transformational projects to enhance operational efficiency, provide customer convenience and reduce system losses drastically.

Ms. Jatoe-Kaleo urged customers to desist from illegal connections and take advantage of the ongoing revenue mobilization exercise dubbed “Operation Fix The Bill and Pay The Bill” to correct all anomalies and also pay their bills through the ECG PowerApp or shortcode *226# to enable the company gather enough revenue to sustain the electricity supply chain.