The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has come under fire again for the high incidence of meter disconnections by its staff in many homes lately. Some traders in Accra have called BUSINESS GUIDE to register their displeasure over ECG’s attitude towards them, particularly with regard to disconnection of meters at their homes when they move to their respective workplaces. According to the traders, staff of ECG who disconnect the meters, relate to them in a contemptuous way. Yakubu Abdullai, Head of Task Force, Annex 2 Makola Market, who lives with his wife said: “A lot of us are not happy with how workers of ECG invade our homes when we are at our respective workplaces and disconnect our meters from power supply. “What is more annoying is the fact that these staff of ECG change electricity meters without the users’ consent and ask them to pay huge bills.” According to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), it is illegal to disconnect users of electricity and other utilities without a genuine case. Additionally, lights are not supposed to go out during weekends (Friday to Sunday) or on holidays. When providers do these things, they should pay penalties to users. Mr Abdullai continued, “If we buy electricity credit and slot it into our meter, the system does not recognize it. You will thus need to go and bring an employee of ECG from the office to come and fix it in a taxi. When they come, we have to bribe them else they won’t come the next time. “If you request a meter through the normal channel, it takes about three months for an applicant to secure an electricity meter for his residence from the ECG. With this, house permits are required from applicants before the meters could be supplied to them. Thus people who do not immediately have this document would need to wait for a long time. On the other hand, those who want it urgently pay between GH¢300 and GH¢400 before they are offered the meters, and these applicants are not bothered with the provision of any documentation.” Karim Lameh Yirbitoh, Assistant Secretary for Kwasea Dwaso Market, near PWD Park in Accra, in an interview with the Business Guide, appealed to ECG to ensure that prepaid meters are supplied abundantly at vantage points so access to it would not be cumbersome. “Also, it should consider the number of tenants in most compound houses and allocate a lot of meters. Getting meters is not an easy task. ECG has told us not to secure meters from any other source except its offices. Most of the meters that our members are using tend to over-bill, and when we make a report to ECG, we are given cock and bull stories. “When you have a meter that is billing you normally too, ECG staff will say it has been tampered with and end up loading you with heavy bills.” When BUSINESS GUIDE contacted the Public Relations Unit of ECG to find out how this issue could be resolved, there was no response from the unit. The front desk staff indicated that the staffs of the unit were not in their offices. Last year, the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission, in collaboration with the Energy Commission, came out with penalties regarding breaches of standards of performance by the ECG, Volta River Authority (VRA) and Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo). The penalties aimed at improving service delivery by the electricity companies and also to protect consumers from under performance by the providers. These penalties are in accordance with the Legislative Instrument 1935. The breaches that would attract penalties include delays in application for connection to electricity services, supply interruptions, absence of notice for planned maintenance works, delays in the submission of quality of service reports and delays in response to voltage complaints. The rest are extended use of estimated billing (six months), delays in the provision and replacement of electricity meters for consumers and failure to provide pre-payment vending point within 10 kilometres of the electricity customer's premises. The Executive Secretary of PURC, Stephen Adu told the media in Accra last year that the penalty units for the aforementioned breaches range from two penalty units to two hundred penalty units, depending on the offence committed and would be charged for every breach. The lowest breach of two penalty units translates into GH¢24, with a breach of Two Hundred Penalty Units being GH¢2400.The above penalties are expected to be effective by October 16, 2010 but the commission couldn’t enforce it up to date. Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of PURC, Stephen Adu, has called on electricity consumers to report to the PURC if their problems are not resolved or satisfactorily addressed by the utility companies. Source: Business Guide/Ghana