The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has urged students in tertiary institutions to help in reporting illegal power and water connections.

The Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr Ishmael Ackah who made the call also advised students to promptly pay their utility bills.

Addressing students of the Koforidua Technical University (KTU) on August 29, 2023, Dr Ackah told them about the need to pay utility tariffs and why they also have to help in reporting illegal connections.

He reminded them of the reward of 6% on the revenue recovered from illegal connections that was available for any whistle blower.

Dr Ackah explained that by paying the bills, the utility companies generate the required revenue to enable them serve the public better.

“In the Eastern Region alone water consumers owed about GH¢ 46 million”, Dr Ackah said.

The Eastern Regional Operations and Consumer Services Director at the PURC, Alhaji Jabaru Abukari urged utility consumers to report their concerns with their landlords to the PURC for redress.

Rented homes

The Vice-Chancellor of the Koforidua Technical University (KTU) Professor David Kofi Essumang who was happy about the programme said about 90% of his students lived in rented homes and payment of electricity and water bills had created a lot of anxiety between landlords and students.

“We in KTU use more electricity in training our students and the way PURC is considering industries, we are also appealing to them to also consider the tertiary institution to help reduce utility bills since the universities are also training the human resource of the country”, he said.

Prof Essumang lauded the PURC for educating their students on how to calculate the energy used and the cost involved using the PURC Electricity Consumption Estimator (PECE) application.

PURC was at the university to engage, educate and enforce the payment of utility bills and at the same time encourage the students to educate their parents on the need to pay utility bills.

The event which was also attended by the university lecturers and administrators enable the students to ask pertinent questions about the two utility services of which they had the required answers to better understand the issues raised.