The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has disconnected power supply to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) for non-payment of bills to the tune of one million Ghana cedis. The refinery has not been able to operate since the power cut on Wednesday but its Managing Director is challenging the outstanding debt. Mr Ato Ampiah told Joy Business that his outfit is “challenging the Electricity Company on the bill they brought," insisting "we don’t owe them that money.” Impugning ulterior motives into the decision by ECG to cut the power supply, Mr Ampiah said “I am sure they knew that TOR has stocked the plant to put in a new boiler which we have installed to increase our power generation and they knew that if they cut the power at this time, TOR cannot get power.” According to him, supposing without admitting that TOR owed ECG a million Ghana cedis, the ECG has still breached an agreement that the two institutions have, a situation that should not have happened. He said TOR has never defaulted on an agreement they have with the ECG in the past and there was no reason for the disconnection. He said other companies owe TOR but this has not resulted in shutting down the operations of these companies. Mr. Ampiah indicated that it was prudent for the company to engage TOR as a customer in order to find a solution, stressing “when your customer is owing and you want to attack your customer you will be sure on your figures.” He also accused ECG of not notifying his outfit before going ahead with the disconnection. He said “we cannot pump out LPG, we cannot pump out petrol. I am not saying this to show panic… but I am saying that when people are doing things they should look at the macroeconomic intentions and its total cost to the state. But the acting Managing Director of ECG Mr Anthony Gyampo has stated that the power cut was a mistake. Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Thursday, Mr Gyampo said "because TOR is a very strategic institution, we always are very careful how we deal with them." He said immediately the information reached him, he directed that the power supply be restored as soon as possible. Mr. Gyampo however failed to confirm whether TOR actually owes ECG one million Ghana cedis explaining that he would have to crosscheck the bill with the officers in charge before he can make a definite statement. "TOR was not meant to be cut off. Maybe something went wrong," he said, adding they will carry out an investigation to find out exactly what went wrong. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana