Parts of Accra to experience power outage tomorrow, Friday April, 21, according to Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
In a public notice, the ECG noted that this is to allow the power distributor to improve its service delivery.
The power company in a notice stated that the work is scheduled to start on Friday, April 21, 2023, from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm.
According to ECG, areas to be affected as a result of the exercise are; Tesano, Abeka, Alajo, Caprice, North Kaneshie, Santana market, Achobo best, Kouttam, Poly product, Kane em, Duraplast, Ashfoam.
The rest are Qualiplast, Corona, IPNL Romarong, Fowrewin Ghana, Panasonic, Polytex, Poly Craft, Piccadilly, Top Packaging, Deco plast, Innolink, Burger King, Winners Chapel, Volta Garments and Ghihoc Distillery.
“ECG regrets the inconvenience that will arise out of this exercise,” the powerdistributor added.
Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has noted that the power producer has so far only been able to recover half of the debt owed it by consumers.
The ECG is owed about GH¢5.7 billion but according to Mr Dubik Mahama, “we have collected in excess of GH¢2 billion.” “That is less than half,” he added.
“But we have one more week to go before I am able to give my figures. I will sit down, do an assessment and then see. Why are people not paying? We will disconnect and prosecute,” he said.
The ECG on March 20, 2023, embarked on its revenue mobilisation exercise which is expected to end on April 20, 2023.
Meanwhile, the ECG has responded to claims that its initiative forms part of conditions Ghana is supposed meet before receiving a credit facility worth $3 billion.
According to Mr Mahama, such reports are false and should be disregarded.
“If someone says this is IMF driven, it is very sad. That means that you don’t want to applaud ECG, because we took our time, and suffered what we had to suffer to get to where we are now. The dashboard showed us where we were leaking, where we were bleeding and what the billing system is saying, and then we lost our moral high ground by sitting in the office and being owed GH¢5.7 billion”.
“So we said let’s all move out in one month and see if we can close the gap and see if we can make everybody happy. Through this exercise, one of the things that will happen is that we will be able to clean our books,” Mr Mahama explained.
The Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has said that he fully endorses the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) efforts to recover every pesewa owing to the firm.
According to him it is important the company remains viable to deliver efficient service to consumers.
Dr. Prempeh made these assertions when he led the ECG’s revenue protection task force to two companies that owed the company various sums of money.
The Minister during these two engagements bemoaned the situation where companies pile up bills for a very long time and refuse to pay.
“As a country, we cannot continue to countenance the attitude of non-payment of bills, among other illegalities and expect optimal service delivery,” he said.
He continued “The financial capacity of the generator, transmitter and distributor is very much anchored on prompt payment of bills, especially as we work to clamp down on all forms of losses and intra-sector debts.”
“These 3 segments of the power value-chai are symbiotically dependent on each other, and therefore we must work together to clamp down on all forms of losses”.
The Minister said, there is no excuse whatsoever for the non-payment of electricity bills and drew an analogy where one cannot negotiate with OMCs to get fuel into his or her car.
“When you need fuel, you cannot but pay to get it, why can’t you do same for the electricity you consume,” he quizzed
The Minister who is also the Manhyia South MP further said that the unbearable cost of fuel for generators incurred by Ghanaians during the ‘Dumsor’ era between 2013 and 2016 is indicative of the luxury of power supply currently, and therefore urged consumers to pay promptly for the value chain to function effectively.
The ECG taskforce continues to mount operations to retrieve all debts owed by the company.
According to the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Mahama, the company discovered that over 15,000 of its customers in Kwabenya were tapping electricity illegally.
“We carried out ‘Know Your Customer Drive’ in Kwabenya, and we found out that we had over 15,000 customers that we didn’t know,” he said.
He made this known while speaking to Asaase radio on Wednesday.
The ECG boss noted that the power producer has now turned its attention to Adenta.
“We are tagging everybody with a unique QR code, …we want it to be coded so we can have a tailor-made service for you,” he added.
Meanwhile, the managing director of the ECG has served notice to defaulting customers and organisations that it will soon start naming and shaming to further its revenue mobilisation drive.
Appearing on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (22 March), Samuel Mahama, said people calling to intervene on behalf of defaulters should desist.
He said “the phone calls should stop because, at the end of the day, you have to do the right thing. Let’s not politicise this.
“As for the calls, they keep coming because we have realised that we are so quick to point out when it comes to state agencies that haven’t paid.
“So, next week if they don’t pick up the slack, we are going to do that name and shame for the people of Ghana to see who the major culprits are.”
Samuel Dubik Mahama, the managing director of the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG), has said that, in the final round of its exercise, the company’s revenue mobilization team will disconnect businesses and houses due the ECG without consideration.
According to him, the public is fully aware of the exercise and that the team will not negotiate with any entity before disconnecting.
Speaking on Citi TV’s Face to Face programme, Mr. Dubik Mahama reiterated that the company has given its debtors enough grace period.
“This is the last week of the exercise, nobody is taking excuses, if you haven’t paid, the conversation has gone on for far too long. Anybody who doesn’t pay will be off the grid. The warnings started on March 20. Before we started, there was a countdown. Does that mean that you don’t take us seriously? The funny thing is when you take them off the grid, they find money to pay. That is when they realise that ECG is actually cheap,” he cautioned.
Mr. Dubik Mahama added that he will not succumb to any pressure from some people in authority to compel him put a stop to the revenue mobilization exercise.
“I have been given a mandate and I’m delivering to its fullest. I have been given the fullest support. Fantastic support from my Minister of Energy [Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh]. Fantastic support from my board, I have to doff my hats out to thePresident Akufo-Addo. My family they love me for what I’m doing. they [family] don’t even have the moral rights to beg on behalf of anybody owing us,” the Managing Director of ECG indicated.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has indicated that former President John Dramani Mahama will not get a refund of his already paid electricity bills.
Managing Director of the Company, Samuel Dubik Mahama, made this known during an interview on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo morning show, where he said ECG regrets allowing the former President to foot his own bills when the state had a responsibility to absorb the cost.
“I won’t put the blame at his doorsteps or make it political, it is my office, we were supposed to read his meter and take action by informing him that we will handle it, so, we now have put those structures in place after a very comprehensive conversation with the Chief of Staff,” he said on the show.
This is after the former President in an exclusive interview with TV3 last year disclosed that all bills the state must cater for, including his electricity and water bills, have not been attended to since he left office in 2017. Mr Mahama emphasised that he pays them himself.
His claim has been confirmed by the ECG MD who attributed the anomaly to failure of the company to execute its mandate as required.
He explained that although all bills of former President John Agyekum Kufour have been duly submitted to the Chief of Staff for payment, however, Mr Mahama had already (personally) been paying his own bills at the time the company reached out to him.
“…so, we had a meeting with the Chief of Staff and she told us her piece of mind and she told us exactly what we have to do because a lot of people would like to drop the problem at the political doorstep which is wrong,” he stated.
He further sent a passionate appeal to the public not to politicise the matter and another appeal to the former President to forgo what he has already paid while ECG explored a way to deal with the matter going forward.
“I’ve requested a meeting with him and his aides so that we can see the way forward. I’ll plead with him to let go of what he has already paid and going forward we will take care of the rest,” he assured.
The Managing Director of theElectricity Company of Ghana(ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama has said that the company regrets allowing former President John Dramani Mahama pay for electricity consumed.
According to him, the business is in charge of reading the former president’s meter and delivering the bills to the Chief of Staff’s office for payment, a part the company has failed to play.
“We collate the bills of the former Presidents and take them to the Chief of Staff to pay. Former President Kufour’s bills were with us. We’ve given them to the Chief of Staff, and she has worked on them. We also had former President John Mahama’s own… We got in touch with him, and we realized that he has already been paying his own bills. So moving forward, we will discuss with him so that his bills will be absorbed,” he said.
The Managing Director explained that the company will rectify the situation to ensure that the former Presidentdoes not pay his own electricity bills going forward.
“So, from now onwards we are going to have discussions with him (John Mahama) so that moving forward it would be absorbed.
“I won’t put the blame at his doorsteps or make it political, it is my office, we were supposed to read his meter and take action by informing him that we will handle it, so, we now have put those structures in place after a very comprehensive conversation with the Chief of Staff.
“…so, we had a meeting with the Chief of Staff and she told us her piece of mind and she told us exactly what we have to do because a lot of people would like to drop the problem at the political doorstep which is wrong,” he stated.
He added that the Chief of Staff criticized the company for not fulfilling its obligations to former President Mahama the same way it does for former President Kufuor.
In 2022, former President Mahama disclosed that since he left office in 2017, the only benefit he receives from the government is his monthly pension. He added that he pays all his utility bills, which he believes should have been covered by the government.
“I receive only my monthly pension like President Kufuor and President Rawlings was receiving before he died. That is all I get.
“I pay the electricity bill for my house and my office, I pay the water bill for my house and my office. I live in my own accommodation so the State does not pay me anything for accommodation,” Mr Mahama said.
The Institute for Energy (IES) has advised theElectricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to carry out monthly revenue mobilisation exercises to ensure that they do not accumulate debts owed to them.
Research and Policy Analyst at IES, Adam Yakubu, speaking to the media, said that making the exercise routine would instil awareness regarding payments for electricity consumed.
“I think it should be something that should be done monthly so that they go around every month to mobilise revenue,” he added.
ECG’s month-long revenue mobilisation initiative, which began on 20 March, will end on Friday, 21 April 2023.
Samuel Dubik Mahama, Managing Director of ECG, stated that his company is considering reaching out to private firms to help retrieve funds from defaulting customers after the end of the exercise.
“There is a possibility that we might even sell the debt to private institutions to go and collect. It is something that we are considering because we’ve gotten to the point where we need all the help we can get.”
“So, if it means discounting it to other companies and then getting what we need, why not? It is something on the table worth considering,” he said.
“If you are buying £1 million, it is irrelevant. If you’re coming to buy about £200 million, £400 million, then you’re talking. So, it is something I’ll present to the board at the right time, and we’ll go through it and we can give percentages to them,” he explained.
He also revealed that preparations are being made to launch a new initiative that would focus on unauthorised power connections in the country.
He added that anyone found guilty of the act would be prosecuted.
“So let’s take it that I am giving everyone a head start. Anybody who believes their meter has been tampered with and there is a bypass, note that the utility court is being set up, and you are going to be charged with stealing. You will not be charged with bypass, and we know stealing is imprisonment, so if you’ve bypassed the meter, please correct it,” he added.
They engaged in meter bypass, meter tampering and direct connections, thereby consuming electricity of 868,000 kWh worth GH¢1,100,000.
Public Relations Officer, ECG Accra West Region, Fred Baimbill-Johnson, disclosed that the said amount has been recovered.
According to him, the sophistication of the illegalities identified shows a resolve by some customers to deny the company of revenue from the electricity they use.
“Power has been disconnected to these customers. They have been surcharged for the electricity they used without paying and charged a penalty fee for engaging in the illegalities. Also, depending on the gravity of the offence, we will hand some cases over to the police for prosecution,” Mr Baimbill-Johnson said.
He added that the company hopes that these cases will serve as deterrents to other customers to desist from any acts of illegality against the company.
Staff of the ECG have since the 20th of March been on an exercise to visit all customers to demand the payment of debts owed the company and audit the health of its meter installations.
The ECG Accra West General Manager, Ing Emmanuel Akinie revealed that the company is investing heavily in technology to help identify customers who engage in illegalities.
“We have introduced some smart meter solutions on pilot basis, which give us real-time updates of what is happening on a customer premises. It signals our office once the meter-case is opened, bypassed or tampered with” he said.
Ing. Akinie signaled plans to roll out more of such smart meters to aid in the fight against illegalities.
The Accra West region has eight operational districts. These are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korlebu and Nsawam.
At Oyarifain the Dodowa District, the Electricity Company of Ghana has seized more than 40 bogus meters.
The task force discovered the fake meters on their routine checks to inspect the health of ECG meters.
The Commercial Manager of the Accra East Region, Jonathan Asatente indicated that the power distribution company has been facing such incidents for some time now, but it always finds it difficult to apprehend the culprits because persons hardly volunteer information to it.
“Even if it is our staff that is behind this, we are ready to take them on, but it is difficult to find the truth because the people here are not willing to open up to us.”
“Some of the customers have been using these meters for years and it is just a few of them that were truthful enough to come and notify us,” Mr. Asatente added.
The Public Relations Manager of the Accra East Region of ECG also disclosed that the ECG has been to the area sometime back and removed those meters only to return to meet them reconnected.
“Some of the team came here first and noticed that there were meters that were not from the ECG, and so we removed some of them but as we came today, we realized that they have reconnected again. It is difficult to tell the number of customers that are involved but at the end of the day, we will find out the numbers involved.”
The Managing Director of theElectricity Company of Ghana(ECG), has said that preparations are being made to launch a new initiative that would concentrate on unauthorized power connections in the country.
According to Samuel Mahama, illegal connections cost grave losses to his outfit, therefore, the need for the outfit to undertake the exercise.
He further added that people who would be culpable of the act will be tried in court for stealing.
“So let’s take it that I am giving everyone a head start. Anybody who believes their meter has been tampered with and there is a bypass, note that the utility court is being set up and you are going to be charged with stealing.
“You will not be charged with bypass and we know stealing is imprisonment, so if you’ve bypassed the meter please correct it,” he said on Tuesday.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr Mahama used the platform to caution people who are illegally connected to the grid or using fake meters to address the issue before the exercise is rolled out.
He stressed that there will be no favours on the day of reckoning.
“This thing is a big moral and responsibility and values fight. We need to stop,” he stressed.
Mr Mahama decried the losses the power distributing company has endured due to the illicit behaviour.
Citing a newspaper, he said illegal connections cost ECG at least GH₵2 billion.
“For every percentage lost, it costs ECG GH₵100 million, and right now, ECG’s losses is at about 28 percent so that is GH₵2.8 billion,” he stated.
In March, the power-distributing company started an ambitious programme to recover GH₵5.7 billion owed by its customers.
Private manufacturing industries and mining firms are the highest debtors, followed by some government institutions.
Touching on the topic, ECG’s Managing Director said his outfit is halfway through the debt collection exercise.
Citizens who aid the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) address the issue of illegal connections in the country stand a chance of earning some money.
The ECG has pledged to give whistleblowers 6% commission on the money recovered during its operation to clamp down illegal connection.
Engaging the media on Monday on Peace FM’s Kokorkoo morning show, Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama, made this known.
“It is 6%, you get a 6% commission. We are coming to publicise it. If you report anyone for engaging in illegal connection you will be given 6% out of the recovered bill,” he is quoted to have said by Ghanaweb.
ECG recovers GH¢2.5 billion
Over a month ago, ECG commenced a nationwide exercise to recover some GH¢5.7 billion owed by its customers in unpaid bills.
The exercise according to ECG has so far led to the recovery of about half of the said amount.
According to Mr Dubik, the exercise had become necessary as the debt situation had reached worrying levels, thus it had become important to ensure that revenue was improved to preserve the integrity of the company.
He said while the company had an idea about the debt situation, the picture was better painted after ECG upgraded its digitalization process, hence the need to reverse the situation before it negatively affected operations.
The Electricity Company of Ghana‘s (ECG) revenue mobilization task team has disconnected Accra Technical University’s power for failing to pay a debt of GHS1.37 million.
The task force as part of efforts to recover monies visited five residential and non-residential facilities including the telecommunication company, AirtelTigo.
AirtelTigo paid GH¢1 million debt to avoid disconnection. Meanwhile, the Accra Technical University and Accra Digital Center were disconnected after an unsuccessful engagement.
The task force, however, commended Accra Breweries Limited and Fan Milk Ghana Limited for prompt payments of their bills
Meanwhile, theAccra West Region of ECG has recovered GH¢1 million from 140 customers for power theft.
The public relations officer of the Accra West Region, Fred Baimbill-Johnson, commended the task force for their vigilance in uncovering the illegalities.
TheGhana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has paid GH2 million of its GH17.5 million debt to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Volta Region after two years of not paying for power used.
The last time the GWCL paid for electricity consumed was in 2021 and this led to the company becoming the highest debtor of ECG in the Volta Region with a debt profile of GH¢17.5 million.
The payment of GH¢2 million to thepower distributorcomes after series of engagements which led to the power distributor serving the GWCL with a disconnection notice to settle its indebtedness or face disconnection on Tuesday 4th April 2023.
The disconnection notice led to crunch talks between both companies in the Volta Region which eventually saw the ECG rescind its decision to cut power supply to the facilities of GWCL.
Addressing the media, the Acting Volta Regional General Manager of ECG, Ing. Michael Buabin, said that “We rescinded our decision to disconnect GWCL on 4th April 2023 because we knew they were going to pay something very soon since the discussions we had with them at the Regional and Head Office level were positive“.
Ing. Buabin indicated that the company is not embarking on a mass disconnection exercise but a revenue mobilization exercise “so once the company engages you, and you show commitment to pay, there can be a consensus”.
“We don’t take delight in disconnecting customers, but we also want to collect the needed revenue so when we engage you and there’s positive feedback. We don’t take you off the national grid but once you default or fail to present a positive solution, disconnection which is always the last resort will be done”.
Ing. Buabin also noted that the GWCL provides essential services to consumers so disconnecting them also has adverse effects.
“For example, if we disconnect GWCL, hospitals, schools and innocent consumers who have paid their water bills will not get water supply, hence the need to engage the GWCL extensively for them to pay their bills to avoid disconnection”, he said.
Ing. Buabin indicated that the GH¢2 million paid by the GWCL is nowhere near its GH¢17.5 million debt in the region and urged them to make regular payments to avoid accruing more debt in the nearest future.
“The amount paid by GWCL is small compared to their debt profile, but we hope they will be making regular payments to enable them reduce or clear their debt. We will be monitoring the situation to ensure we receive frequent payments from their outfit”.
Ing. Buabin expressed hope that GWCL will fulfil its patriotic act of paying for electricity consumed by making another payment very soon.
Other institutions that made payments in the Volta Region include UHAS, Ho technical university, Abutia Stone Quarry among others.
The ECG has also engaged Hospitals that charge utilities as part of bills given to patients, especially missionary hospitals (CHAG), the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service and Ghana Prisons Service in the Volta Region to settle their indebtedness or face disconnection.
The Accra Digital Center’s power was disconnected by the Accra West regional taskforce of the Ghanaian electricity company for owing over GH600,000 debt.
The operation is a part of a larger countrywide effort by ECG to recover money that consumers owe.
This week is supposed to be the last for the National Exercise. As a result, the taskforce is actively organizing its funding.
Citi News sources say an amount of GH¢2.5 billion has been generated so far.
“About GHS 25 million has been collected from our special load-tariff customers which is quite substantial, and I hope that we will be able to give more details on the amount retrieved once the exercise is over. It is more frustrating dealing with customers who are owing but more difficult is realizing those who are engaging in illegal connections. We encourage people to pay for the power they use because we will clamp down on these illegalities”, the Accra West Regional Public Relations Office, Fred Baimbil-Johnson.
The team is currently heading to the AirtelTigo office to carry out similar exercises.
The ECG on March 20, 2023, embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilization exercise.
The company is targeting to collect a debt of about GH¢5.7 billion owed by various ministries, departments and agencies, state-owned enterprises, postpaid and prepaid customers across the country.
Several state companies including Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) from the national power grid. Others like the Accra International Conference Center, public hospitals and schools.
The Accra Digital Centre’s power has been cut off by the Accra West regional taskforce of the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) due to an outstanding debt of about GHS600,000.
The operation forms part of a national exercise by ECG to recoup monies owed by customers.
The National Exercise is expected to end this week. Hence, the taskforce is aggressively mobilizing its revenue.
Citi News sources say an amount of GH¢2.5 billion has been generated so far.
The team is currently heading to the AirtelTigooffice to carry out similar exercises.
Some 2,000 houses have been disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over illegal connections.
The Accra East Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana conducted the operation on Friday at the Koiman New site in the Ayi Mensa Koiman Electoral Area.
During the exercise, it was noticed that almost all the houses in the area had been connected to illegal meters.
Atinka TV’s Ebenezer Madugu reported that only three (3) out of the about 2,000 houses were having approved ECG meters.
According to the ECG’s Accra East Regional Commercial Manager, Jonathan Asante, there are over 20,000 such meters in their area alone.
“They cannot even be described as meters. They are mere boxes. Assuming a house consumes one unit and a unit is sold for one Ghana cedi, we are losing over two million Ghana cedis in Accra East alone,” he explained
To stop the issue of illegal reconnection by the residents, the ECG officials decided to remove all the electricity cables in the community, leaving the residents in total darkness.
“If we leave the cables here, they will reconnect; The only way to prevent them from reconnecting is to take the cables away”.
Peter Geh, the Assembly member for the Ayi Mensa Koiman Electoral District, was mentioned by some locals when questioned.
A few minutes later, Mr. Geh appeared at the location. Although he acknowledged assisting residents in obtaining the alleged fake meters, he claimed he had little knowledge of how to identify a fake meter. He attributed the situation to his people’s inability to obtain a meter.
He alleged that one contractor, Solomon, from the Accra East ECG office was in charge of the installations.
Responding to the allegation, the Accra East Regional Commercial Manager of ECG, Jonathan Asante, said, “We don’t know any contractor called Solomon. An investigation will be conducted on this.”
The Communications Officer for ECG, Accra East Region, Mary Eshun, insisted that the process to get a meter is clear and straightforward.
She explained, “you rather experience the delays if you come through a middle man and ‘Goro boys”
The district chief executive for Amansie South, the Ashanti Region, Clement Opoku Gyamfi, has refuted allegations of making unauthorized electricity connections.
On Thursday, April 6, 2023, the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) disconnected the official residence of the DCE accusing him of connecting power without using a meter.
He is said to have without authority, run the power cables through an adjoining plot to his house on the blind side of the ECG.
But after six days of living in darkness, the DCE tells Citi News that he has never tampered with any electricity cable at his residence.
“I have never and will never engage in any illegal connection. This is an official bungalow I was given. I don’t pay bills whether electricity or water, so how can you say I have engaged in illegal connection? It doesn’t make sense. Why will they come in a Rambo style to disconnect me? I saw two land cruisers, pickups and a van with media men just to come and disconnect power,” he fumed.
He further accused the power distribution company of witch-hunting him for some comments he publicly made.
“There’s a back story to all these. I was on a radio in Kumasi and as part of the topics to discuss was ECG disconnections and I emphatically said that ECG is not a serious company but the reason why I said that was because they hardly bring bills and mostly when they bring it, it is an accumulation of several months of debt. This is why they disconnected me. If not witch hunting then why would they do that?”
The District Chief Executive further added that he will soon take action against ECG if power is not restored to his bungalow.
“My official bungalow is under the care of the district estate officer. So he is in charge of it. They will have to take the steps to ensure that power is restored. For my next line of action, let me keep my cards close to my chest for now. The media will hear soon”.
The Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) has announced completion of the maintenance work on the Atuabo plant effectively ending the recent load management exercise being carried out by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
A statement issued late Friday, April 7, 2023, signed by Head of Corporate Communications of GNGC, Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah Bonsu, indicated, “the entire maintenance activities ended in the late hours of Wednesday 5th April ,2023”.
“We are currently at a flow rate of 90 mmscfd,” the statement added.
The release further extended appreciation to the general public for their patience and cooperation during the period of shutdown.
The Amansie South District Chief Executive (DCE), Clement Opoku, is crying foul over allegations that he has been cut off from the national power grid over illegal connection and non-payment of bills.
In an interview with the Independent Ghana, he said the claims are inaccurate and a calculated attempt to tarnish his image.
” I’ve never said anywhere that I’ll not pay bills. ECG got furious because I said they don’t bring bills,” he said on Saturday, April 7, 2023.
Clarifying matters, he explained that the action taken against him by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), as captured in the media reports, is only a move to sabotage him for criticising the work of the company.
“On March 21, 2023, I was a panel on Angel FM’s morning show dubbed Angel in the morning. Among the topics to be discussed was the ECGs revenue mobilisation exercise. ECG was on the table; that they were disconnecting people for non-payment of bills and what have you. So when it got to my turn, as part of my submissions, I said in my opening that ECG is not a serious company.”
According to him, he questioned why the ECG had sat aloof and overlooked non-payment of bills for several months without taking any concrete steps to retrieve the debts until this exercise which commenced on March 20, 2023.
He stated that: “it appears that they [ECG] are not serious with what they are doing because, one, how can someone owe you for 6, 7, 8, 9 months and then you (ECG) still supplies the person with power. If it’s your private company that you are managing, would you have done that? Because it’s for the state so you [ECG officials] sit there unconcerned and think that people should rush to your offices and come and pay, you are enjoying monopoly.”
He cited his district Amansie South, which is a rural district, for instance, and questioned how a peasant farmer in the area who makes barely enough a day to cater for himself and his family would be able to pay off an accumulated ECG debt of about six hundred cedis at a go, which in his view, is not feasible.
“That person can’t afford to pay and when he or she is unable to pay, then you say you’re cutting off the supply of power to the person’s residence, and that’s so wrong. It’s unfair treatment to anyone,” he lamented on the show.
Additionally, he disclosed that he had not paid any electricity bill at his official residence since he assumed office as DCE because he had not been served any bill by the ECG.
“I was so emphatic that they are not serious because in my district we don’t even have an ECG office there so if you to pay your bills you’ll have to drive to the nearby district before you can be able to do so which shouldn’t be the case and I made reference to my official residence that if what I’m saying is not true, they should come to my official residence and come and check. Ever since I moved in as DCE in 2020 till March 21, 2023, I’ve never seen any bill coming from ECG and so they should sit up, up their game and work towards it.”
He said this statement, however, got to ECG Management in Accra, who got enraged by his comments and stormed his Amansie South residence “in rambo style” to disconnect power at the premises.
“Their actions show that they are just in for witch hunting [but] my point still remains that they should bring bills and we will pay. Besides, I don’t pay bills by myself, it’s the government that does so. So if we are not being served bills, how are we going to pay?” he added.
This comes in response to earlier reports that the Electricity Company of Ghana has disconnected the power supply to the official residence of the District Chief Executive of Amansie South District in the Ashanti Region.
According to a myjoyonline.com report, at least four floodlights were on when the ECG Revenue Protection taskforce visited at 3:42 PM.
Led by the Ashanti Regional Director of ECG, David Boadi Asamoah, the taskforce took away electrical cables used for the illegal service connection.
One of the largest iron and steel producers and traders in the West African region, B5 Plus Limited, has been cut off from the national grid for failing to pay the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) a balance of GH19.5 million.
ECG, which is pursuing every customer to reclaim about GH5.7 billion, was not satisfied with the company’s ability to pay off more than half of its approximately GH42 million debt.
According to the national task force of ECG, they were assured that the balance owed to the company would be settled this week.
However the steel company defaulted on its promise and when the task force arrived at the headquarters of the company in Tema, they were prevented from accessing the substation and so the disconnection was done from the source, and the feeders were taken away.
It is reported that managers of B5 Plus have threatened to connect directly to GRIDCo despite not having permission from the Ministry of Energy to do so.
“Any attempt by the company to connect directly to GRIDCo without settling its bills to ECG and getting the right authorization will have dire legal repercussions on their business,” the external communications manager of ECG, Laila Abubakari, stated.
The power distributor says it’s racing against time to settle power producers’ huge sums of arrears due to debt owed by ECG customers.
So far, numerous companies have been disconnected from the national grid, while many others have redeemed their indebtedness to avoid disconnection.
The disconnection exercise is part of a nationwide activity led by the managing director of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Samuel Dubik Mahama.
All ECG offices have been shut to allow all managers and other staff to embark on the one-month revenue mobilization, which is expected to end on April 20.
A 54-year-old man has been apprehended by the Police in Abuakwa with support from the Revenue Protection Unit of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for installing fake meters for some people in Kunsu in the Ahafo Ano South West District of the Ashanti Region.
John Fofie, has been accused of replacing people’s post-paid meters which has debt on them with fake meters in the community.
According to sources, ECG officials had installed new postpaid meters in the home of the affected people but routine checks by officers uncovered that the culprit had replaced the meters with fake ones.
This came to light when the officials on the revenue mobilization drive detected the problem in the area.
The exercise, which has helped ECG to retrieved GH¢50 million within two weeks, is expected to retrieve all the GH¢1.2billion owed the power distribution company by the customers.
The exercise, which started about two weeks ago, also uncovered other illegalities, according to officials.
After detecting the problem, victims were interrogated, leading to the arrest of John Fofie as the man installing the fake meters in the area .
Checks conducted in his room discovered seven fake postpaid meters. They have all been confiscated by ECG.
Speaking to the media in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Revenue Protection Unit of the ECG, Ing Kofi Danso, said they are on the look-out for other culprits including the one who illegally transferred the meters.
He said the company’s surveillance over the past months has revealed that some unscrupulous people have been making frantic efforts to infiltrate the stable electricity distribution network with illegal meters.
He further explained that “such illegal meters are also fake and have been affixed with stickers to appear as though it was coming from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG)”.
“We will also not rest on our oars but work hard to arrest and prosecute perpetrators or any persons with intentions to undertake such criminal activities.
“Three meter bypasses were discovered. The culprits weren’t available. The police have asked them to report themselves to the police station.”
Officials have also detected 50 fake prepaid meters at the Race Course Market in Kumasi.
The monitoring is one of many exercises the ECG is conducting in the Ashanti Region following the growing cases of illegal power use in the region.
The Tema Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) has disconnected 310 customers, mainly for non-payment of electricity consumed.
The disconnections were done as part of the company’s nationwide one month revenue mobilisation programme which began on March 20, 2023 and is expected to end on April 20, 2023.
The 310 disconnected customers were part of a total of 2,344 customers who were visited within the first two weeks of the exercise. These customers include all individuals, small, medium and large scale organisations.
Revenue mobilisation is a usual part of the ECGs operations. It is handled by a unit in the organisation known as the Revenue Protection Unit. However, for this special exercise, the organisation rallied the management team and all back end staff from the very top to the bottom, who do not usually deal with customers directly to partake in this activity.
The members of the Board of Directors also joined in this exercise.
The General Manager for ECG, Tema Region, Ing. Ankomah Emmanuel encouraged customers to “do well to pay up their bills to avoid debt and possible disconnection”.
He also added that “we entreat customers not to make any payment whatsoever to any staff of the company on the field as that is not part of this exercise.”
All customers are to make all cash payments at ECG offices and to make cheque payments at banks. Alternatively, payments can be made through the phone short code *226#.
Ing. Ankomah added that the exercise will continue, while hoping that more customers will work towards clearing up their debts owed ECG.
The External Communications Officer of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has bemoaned what she says is the high rate of power theft in the country.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM, Leila Abubakar described the power theft situation as “abysmal, jaw-dropping and blatant.”
According to her, the scale of power theft identified so far in the company’s ongoing debt recovery exercise is huge.
“ECG has its own shortcomings here and there which we are trying to solve. Most of it are engineering problems but it looks like a large number of people intentionally steal power and it is not any reason that can’t be solved by ECG. It is just because they do not want to buy power,” she stated.
Her comments come after several illegalities were discovered by the ECG team on their revenue mobilisation drive to recover GH₵5.7 billion debt.
In the meantime, managers of the popular hotel, Hillburi, located at Aburi in the Eastern Region have been arrested for allegedly stealing electricity.
They are expected to be arraigned before court on April 1.
The company is said to have enjoyed electricity illegally until engineers of the ECG spotted the unauthorised connection during a search on the premises this week.
ECG discovered that Hilburri Hotel had dug the ground and connected wires to the grid, diverting the load from passing through any meters.
Also, three other individuals arrested for power theft in separate incidents are currently in detention at the Legon Police Station and are expected to be processed to appear before a judge later.
According to Madam Abubakar, the results of their investigation indicated that the hotel had a motive and was on a quest to steal power.
“The one that affects me the most is just how much power is being stolen. We’ve been lenient for too long, I think that it’s time that we look at these issues separate from all the other things that we go through, and start prosecuting people seriously.
“Hillburi is just one of the many hotels that we have found out to have bypassed us, and theirs was more shocking because of the intention behind it. Because for someone to be able to dig the ground, wire through and connect directly to source, it means that they were really looking at stealing power.
“When the engineers put the equipment around our meters, they realised there was no current flowing through. It means they had just bypassed and have created their own service line that they were just feeding through,” she said.
She stated that prosecution for power theft is something Ghanaians should expect to see more of, adding that if ECG can prove that you intentionally stole power, you must face the consequences.
Some staff of the company have recently come under attack while executing the company’s ongoing revenue mobilisation programme to recover some GH¢5.7 billion owed by the consuming public.
ECG cited the detention of its personnel by the Ghana Post Company over a GH¢89,000 debt to buttress its caution.
Some personnel of the Company were detained on March 28 by Ghana Post Company when they attempted to disconnect power over the GH¢89,000 debt.
In a statement the ECG therefore, cautioned the general public against illegal connections and attacks on its personnel in the line of their duty which it said is a crime under Ll 2413.
It said it will not countenance any attacks and hesitate to disconnect any customer that owes the Company or threatens its staff.
“The Company hereby gives public notice that any customer/consumer, be they an Individual or company who refuses to allow the Company’s personnel to perform their functions as permitted by Ll 2413, will be disconnected. Further, where an assault on our staff is committed, the consumer will continue to be disconnected until such period of time that the customer has confirmed intention in writing to ensure the safety of ECG’s personnel who have rightfully entered the premises to discharge their duties and pledge not to interfere with the company’s personnel in this regard.
“The Company further reserves its right to initiate either civil or criminal action or both against the consumer and or its officers.”
A nationwide load-shedding schedule has been announced by theElectricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in response to a decrease in power generation imposed on by the shutdown of the Atuabo gas processing plant.
The load-shedding which kicked off on Thursday, March 30, will last till Friday, April 7, 2023, between 6.00pm and 11.00pm.
The ECG in a statement explained that this is due to “maintenance works being carried out by the Ghana National Gas Company(GNGC) at Atuabo, [hence] there is a power generation shortfall. In this regard, please find below a load management schedule from Thursday, 30th March to Friday 7th April 2023, between 6.00pm and 11.00pm”.
Volta, Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Central, Greater Accra and Tema will all be affected.
“We call on our customers to bear the inconvenience with us while the Ghana Gas Processing Plant undertakes this all-important maintenance activity,” the ECG appealed in its statement.
Some of the affected places in group A include: South Odorkor, Baah Yard, Odorgonno, Awoshie Massalatsi, Been-To, Parts of Trasacco, Estates, Parts of Airport Residential Area, GHIPSS, ValCo Trust, Enterprise Market, Trust Bank, Shippers Council, ABSA Bank, Ecobank, Adabraka Free Town, Government Boys, GNTC Bottling, Nayak, Ga East Hospital, Dome New Market, Agingo, Taifa, Nkatie Burger, Mr. Adjei, Demod.
Others are Hotel Adodo, CMB Flats, Coffee Shop, Parts of Labadi, Parts of Labone, Olebu, New Ayawaso, Amamole, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ayigbe Town, Parts of Lartebiokorshie, Alogboshie, Neoplan, Best Point, Kaneshie Flats, St. Theresa, Cocoa Clinic, Accra Sound, Kaneshie Sports Complex, Parts of Kokomlemle, Mallam Atta Market.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is expected to release a schedule to guide citizens in parts of the country for a 14-day power cut period.
There will be erratic power supply as a result of a shutdown of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant in the Western Region.
The Ghana Gas Company Limited commenced a maintenance programme at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant on March 25, 2023, according to a press statement released by the Ministry of Energy.
According to the statement dated March 29, “the shutdown will affect gas supply to some power plants and will ultimately result in interruption of power supply to some consumers”, thus warranting a schedule from the ECG.
On the matter, Director of communications with Ghana Gas, Ernest Owusu Bempah, stated that “the engineers thought it wise that we need to do some major maintenance hence the shutdown.”
As the Ghana Gas Company Limited works to address the situation at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant, the Energy Ministry has pledged to procure additional gas, which will include Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and Light Crude Oil (LCO) “to complement available domestic gas for power generation.”
According to the Ministry, it is working assiduously with all stakeholders “to ensure that any adverse effects of this exercise are mitigated.”
Twenty counts of money laundering and stealing prepaid credits worth more than GH2.1 million have been brought against three workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and seven other people.
The workers are Anthony D. K. Quaye, a technician at the ECG district office in Kasoa, Grace Gardiner, the chief supervising cashier at the ICT Department at the Head Office, and Ali Nansii Shaibu, a computer programmer.
The remaining defendants include Ibrahim Baba Adamu, a technician at the Ghana Electrometer Company, as well as Muntari Adamu, Gariba Awudu Misbaw, Kwasi Appiah Donkor, Eric Yaw Kyei, and Augustina Laniyan, all of whom were independent contractors and sold the general public ECG pre-paid power credits.
ECG, in 2003, entered into a partnership agreement with various companies including Electrometer to provide pre-paid power distribution to customers across the country.
Private dealers were tasked to engage in the sale of the credits as well. Prosecutors say the first accused person (Ali Nansii Shaibu) travelled to Hohoe in 2016 to resolve a pre-paid connectivity challenge for the 7th accused person (Gariba Awudu Misbaw).
The two agreed that the software will be manipulated to enable pre-paid credits to be sent to Gariba without the knowledge of the Hohoe District Office of the ECG. The 7th accused person will then delete the transaction and share the proceeds among themselves.
Credits worth ¢199,351.60 transferred and sold under this scheme
Mr. Shaibu equally entered into this deal with other accused persons resulting in the theft of ¢1,203,249.26 worth of credits. Another set of transactions with other accused persons resulted in various amounts being stolen. Prosecutors say investigations put the total value of stolen credits under this scheme at 2,143,270.15.
The accused persons are said to have admitted to the offence and refunded an amount of 282,600.00 cedis. They all however pleaded not guilty when the charges were read against them in court. The hearing of the case will resume on April 27, 2023.
Electrochem Ghana Limited, a salt mining company owned by Dr Daniel McKorley, has been cut off from the national power grid.
This was done by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG)’s task force in the Tema Region.
According to the ECG, the metres installed in at the company’s premises have been tampered with.
This was disclosed by the External Communications Manager of ECG, Laila Abubakari.
“It has come to light that ECG meter readers have been denied entry to gain access to the meter installed in their premises.”
The ECG task force subsequently disconnected the company after engaging with the security personnel of the company.
The team, prior to visiting the Electrochem company, disconnected power to three other privately owned businesses including a banana farm, Moonlight Fresco Limited, and a fish farm Frosell all in the Ada district.
The other was the Kemmat Hotel, which owes over GHS 200,000 on its six meters.
This follows the power company’s massive disconnection operation on Monday, March 20, in an effort to collect a debt of GHS 5.7 billion.
ECG asked its customers to pay up or be disconnected from the grid.
The company says it risks shutting down if they are unable to clear an outstanding $1 billion owed to some Independent Power Producers (IPP) hence the revenue mobilisation drive.
As a result, the Managing Director of ECG, Mr Samuel Dubik Mr Mahama has said a halt in the exercise could be dire for the company.
“How do we pay the Independent Power Producers? How do we pay GRIDCo? How do we pay VRA? It is a shared responsibility.
“Please let’s just do the right thing, because I don’t even have the moral right after sending somebody out of the office to pick up the phone and call him and say ‘hello, can you cut X, Y and Z slack? No’ then what is the moral of the exercise?”’ he questioned.
Two significant hospitals in Ho have received a disconnection notice from theElectricity Company of Ghana (ECG) due to unpaid bills.
Ho Teaching and Ho Municipal Hospitals have been given six working days to pay their debts or risk losing access to the national power grid on April 3, 2023.
According to the ECG, the hospitals owe a total of GH¢1,875,300.18 in accruals dating from 2021 to the present, with Ho Teaching Hospital owing GH¢1,459,926.23 and Ho Municipal Hospital owing GH¢415,373.95.
According to PURC RegulationsLI 2413,37, sub-regulation (2), the ECG served written notices of disconnection to the hospitals at least three working days before disconnecting the service.
To avoid disconnection, the disconnection notice urges hospitals to settle their arrears within six working days.
Ing. Michael Buabin, Acting General Manager of ECG in the Volta Region, stated that “disconnection is usually a last resort in order to prevent customers from accruing more debt and to enable the company to collect more revenue to keep the electricity supply chain running.”
He also stated that ECG “does not take pleasure in disconnecting customers” and urged all customers to make paying their electricity bills a top priority. These are sensitive facilities that require power to function, and ECG claims it has engaged with them on several occasions to allow them to settle their arrears before issuing the disconnection notice.
Ing. Buabeng added that “ECG is hoping for a positive response from the hospitals to prevent any form of disconnection. Failure to meet ECG’s target could affect the electricity supply chain and the economy through the unavailability of power”.
ECG has launched a one-month nationwide campaign to recover approximately 5.7 billion Cedis from its debtors, with approximately 220 million Cedis in the Volta Region.
The national revenue mobilization taskforce of the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) has cut off power to three blocks at the police barracks at Osu in Accra due to an unauthorized connection (power was connected without a meter).
The task force discovered the illegality on Tuesday on its usual rounds to recover monies owed by customers.
The task force, aside from chasing people who owe ECG debts, uses the opportunity to check for illegal connections.
“Since it’s an illegal connection, we have the first right to disconnect before we deal with issues.” The manager in charge of external communications, Laila Abubakari told Citi News.
The disconnection is part of a national exercise to collect monies owed to ECG by customers and to also ascertain the condition of all meters.
“The Ghana police would have to come to ECG where a bill will be generated for them covering a period of 12 months,” she added.
She said power will be restored when they pay the surcharged amount.
“The administration block also owes, but due to security implications, we’ve spared that facility while we discuss further the amount involved. We consider the police accommodation facilities (blocks) a general facility hence the disconnection”.
Meanwhile, the ECG Revenue Mobilization Taskforce was held hostage for about 30 minutes after they disconnected the Ghana Post Company over GH¢89,000 debt.
The task force was at the premises to conduct its ongoing revenue mobilization exercise on Tuesday when the staff prevented the task force from leaving the Accra main office.
The disconnection exercise is in its second week of the month-long national exercise aimed at retrieving GH¢5.7 billion on their books.
ECG has already taken on a number of institutions including theKeta Municipal Health Directorate, Ho Airport Cape Coast stadium among others.
The exercise also forced both government and private institutions to cough up some funds to settle outstanding debt to avoid disconnection.
Parliament, for instance, settled eight million cedis out of the 13 million it owes the power distributor.
The University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) has also paid one million cedis out of 1.4 million cedis owed.
Both institutions were not disconnected from the national grid following the show of commitment to settle their debts.
The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Masubir Mahama, has entreated users of post-paid meters to visit their offices across the country to pay their debt without waiting on the company to issue bills on power consumed.
Ghanaian media personality, Nana Aba Anamoah, has alleged that foreign companies in Ghana owe an amount of GHS 2.75 billion to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
This is said to be half of GHS 5.5 billion the ECG hopes to collect from institutions that are indebted to the company.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, March 23, 2023, Nana Aba Anamoah wrote “ECG is owed over 5.5 billion Cedis. Half of that amount is owed by foreign companies.”
“B5 Plus Ltd for instance owed 42 million Cedis. When ECG officials arrived there yesterday, they paid 16 million and made a commitment to settle 20 million Cedis by end of the week.
“Fabri Metal Company Limited was disconnected yesterday. They owe ECG GHS 28 million.”
According to her, Ferro Fabrik Limited which was disconnected from the national grid owe ECG and amount of GHS 18 million.
The Electricity Company of Ghana on Monday, March 20, 2023, embarked on a national revenue mobilisation exercise.
Since Monday, ECG has disconnected the Ho Airport in the Volta Region for owing the power distribution company GH¢63,000.
The regional office of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ho Technical University and the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) Training Academy in Kpetoe were disconnected for similarly owing.
According to the company, it will leave no stone unturned in ensuring all debts owed are paid.
The company is appealing to all customers to make payment before the disconnection team visits their premises. Customers can make payments at any bank or through mobile money. Customers can also pay by dialling *226# or by downloading the ECG PowerApp”.
The managing director of theElectricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has revealed that his organization intends to meter every power distribution transformer by the end of 2023 in a bid to combat power theft.
To help with metering and on-time completion, the MD stated that the contract had already been awarded.
Speaking in an interview on the Point of View on Citi TV, Mr. Mahama bemoaned the volumes of power lost to theft annually and said some residents actually factor power theft into their building plan and often get away with that, but that is soon coming to an end.
“It has come to our attention that some people even before building their houses, talk about ‘by-pass’ where they have one part of their electricity consumption pass through their meter and the other half goes through the main lines and I can assure you that we will find all those people and ensure that they correct it before the end of the year.
“We are going to meter every single distribution transformer and that will allow us to know the number of rooms connected to those transformers and the volumes of power supplied and when your meter is telling us otherwise, we will visit the area and calculate the average for all occupants to pay.”
The Electricity Company of Ghana began a massive disconnection exercise on March 20 in its bid to recover debts owed it.
Mr. Mahama indicated that the company is owed over GH¢5 billion from the month of September 2022 to February 2023. Most of its debtors are the variousMMDAs.
Samuel Masubir Mahama, the managing director of theElectricity Company of Ghana(ECG), is advising owners of post-paid meters to pay their bills in person rather than waiting for the company to send out bills for the electricity used.
Speaking on Eyewitness News withUmaru Sanda Amadu, Mr. Mahama said, “Why would you owe so much money, you owe that kind of money and don’t want to pay on account?”
“In the case of residential customers, they say you haven’t sent us bills in a very long time. But you have received a bill before, so it’s in your interest to keep paying what you see on your last bill until your meter is read, and the reconciliation is done, then you can start shifting to your new bill amount. But most people just sit down and they don’t pay anything. It’s also not fair to the pre-paid customer”.
He further urged post-paid meter users to average their own rate by falling on previous bills to pay for the power they consume.
“Pay through the meter account associated with your name. You were using the power already so pay even if you don’t see bills. Are you saying without the meter being read we shouldn’t bill you and allow you to use it for free? We are saying you can average your own bill, you are in your own home, and you know how much you consume in a week or a month. Be a responsible citizen and pay on account, after proper reconciliation what is due you will be given to you,” the ECG MD reiterated.
He emphasised, “but to say that you are not going to pay anything at all, and then you will enjoy the service, you are not being fair to a pre-paid customer who has to pre-pay what he/she is going to consume”.
As part of its national revenue mobilization, the National Taskforce of the ECG since Monday, March 20, has been disconnecting power to some companies including Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), KFC, Ho Airport.
Parliament, Fabrimetal Company, the largest steel manufacturing company in West Africa, B5 Plus Company Limited in Tema and others which owe the ECG have settled some of their debts to avoid being discounted.
The company disconnected KFC for owing GH¢68,000, Ho Airport for owing GH¢63,000, GRA Office for owing GH¢55,000, CEPS training academy for owing GH¢80,000 and Ho Technical University for owing GH¢402,000.
However, Ho technical university paid GH¢200,000 after crunch talks with the ECG and has been told to settle the arrears by end of March 2023.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has cut the power supply to the Cape Coast Sports Stadium over legacy debts of GHS 513,000.
The move forms part of the company’s nationwide action to reduce debts owed to ensure it stays in business.
Since Monday, March 20, it had embarked on an aggressive revenue mobilisation drive as part of efforts to reduce its debt situation, which was affecting operations.
This is targeted at every customer owing the ECG and not only state-owned enterprises.
In an interview on Tuesday, Alexander Tieku, the Regional Sports Director, said the disconnection would greatly affect its activities as a monumental state asset.
He explained that the debt inherited many years ago was being settled on arranged negotiations with the ECG when the facility was first disconnected sometime last year, and some payments were made.
Management had also engaged officials of the ECG to install pre-paid meters to direct a chunk of the bills to the various business units at the stadium, which had been carried out with 20 more to be done for smooth operations.
Businesses at the stadium include hostels, restaurants, offices, clinics, and gyms, which were connected to only one post-paid meter, leading to the compilation of huge debts.
Mr Tieku described the situation as ‘unfortunate’ and ‘surprising’ due to the agreement reached by both parties.
So far, the Cape Coast new stadium is the only state-owned organisation affected by the disconnection exercise in the region.
Managing Director of the Electricity Company Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has revealed that some individuals in the political space and friends have called to register their displeasure with the ongoing mass disconnection by the company.
Barely 48 hours after the ECG began the exercise, Mr Samuel Dubik Mahama said he had received numerous calls for him to halt the initiative.
When asked if the calls came in from politicians, power brokers and friends by JoyNews’ Evans Mensah, he said “It cuts across. (they say) can you hold off? No, hold off as to what?”
“Please let’s just do the right thing because I don’t even have the moral right after sending somebody out of the office to pick up the phone and call him and say ‘hello, can you cut X, Y and Z slack? No’ then what is the moral of the exercise?” the ECG boss added.
According to Mr Mahama, the ongoing revenue mobilisation exercise being carried out by his out is not politically motivated.
Samuel Dubik Mahama says concerns that the exercise is being targeted at some party’s political base are unfounded and should be treated with the utmost contempt.
He stressed that he has no intention to politicise his office or mandate.
“I don’t see myself as doing politics, I see myself now as a technocrat. The biggest mistake we could ever do is to politicise the work done by this office.
“So for me, your electricity bill doesn’t have a party colour…your electricity bill is red, gold, and green with a black star in the middle, that’s your electricity bill. So believe me, as I said, the status quo balances straight out,” he said.
B5 Plus Company Limited in Tema, the largest producer of steel in West Africa, was able to continue operating after facility managers paid GH20 million to settle a portion of their GH42 million debt to the Electricity Company of Ghana.
The ECG revenue mobilisation task force, which is headed by Laila Abubakari, Manager of External Communications, rejected a previous proposal by B5 Plus managers to pay the GHc20 million in installments.
Laila Abubakari claims that despite blaming the economy and the exchange rate for their inability to pay their bills, ECG is also having the same problems. As a result, the company decided to start a one-month revenue mobilisation exercise in an effort to pay off some of its debts.
The Electricity Company of Ghana has disconnected several customers as it embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise which began on Monday, March 20, 2023.
In the Volta and Oti Regions, ECG officials visited customers like Volta Serene, Abutia Stone Quarry, UHAS, and HTU who owed electricity bills.
The company disconnected KFC for owing GH¢68,000, Ho Airport for owing GH¢63,000, GRA Office for owing GH¢55,000, CEPS training academy for owing GH¢80,000 and Ho Technical University for owing GH¢402,000.
However, Ho technical university paid GH¢200,000 after crunch talks with the ECG and has been told to settle the arrears by end of March 2023.
The exercise also saw some companies make payments like the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) which paid GH¢1 million out of GH¢1.4million.
The company is set to visit Ho teaching hospital, and theNational Communications Authority among others to retrieve about GH¢5 million within the Ho Municipality.
The ongoing revenue mobilization effort being carried out by theElectricity Company of Ghana (ECG), according to the ECG’s managing director, Samuel Dubik Mahama is not driven by politics.
According to Samuel Dubik Mahama, suspicions that the exercise is being directed at a certain party’s political base are baseless and should be viewed disregarded.
He explained that the mass disconnection exercise has become necessary in order to mobilise much-needed revenue for the ECG to pay Independent Power Producers arrears amounting to an excess of $1 billion.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, he stressed that he has no intention to politicize his office or mandate.
“I don’t see myself as doing politics, I see myself now as a technocrat. The biggest mistake we could ever do is to politicise the work done by this office.
“So for me, your electricity bill doesn’t have a party colour…your electricity bill is red, gold, and green with a black star in the middle, that’s your electricity bill. So believe me, as I said, the status quo balances straight out,” he said.
Meanwhile, he has apologised to people who feel insulted or embarrassed as a result of the ECG’s disconnection exercise.
According to him, while the turn of events is unfortunate, it is important to embark on this exercise to ensure that consumers are made aware of the need to pay their bills on time.
“I know a few people who feel slighted, it’s not our intention to disrespect anybody or embarrass anybody I just believe we have a mandate and we should carry it out,” he said.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should be partially be blamed for the debt owed by institutions, according toDr. Kwabena Donkor, a former minister of power and current member of parliament for Pru East.
He accused the state power distributor of previously succumbing to pressures from government institutions not to act to retrieve its debt.
Speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Tuesday, March 21, Dr Donkor said regarding the cause of the debt of the ECG that “It is an attitudinal problem. A lot of government institutions think there is one central government and that there can be debt settlement… there used to be an agency settlement arrangement but that is no more.
“ECG is partly to blame, previously it has succumbed to all sorts of pressures from government institutions. When I was the Minister of Power we put the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance on prepaid, once you put them on prepaid they can’t accumulate debt unless there is a fault, that is the challenge.”
The ECG has been embarking on a debt recovery exercise since Monday, March 20.
The company said that it has introduced a digitalized system to ensure the amount of money received from the debt recovery exercise is monitored directly by the Managing Director of the company.
The task force visited institutions such as Parliament, the Ghana Arprort Company Limited (GACL) and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) as part of the debt recovery.
Speaking to journalists after the exercise on Monday, March 20, the External Communications Manager of ECG, Laila Abubakar said “The national task force is the one that is in charge of the state-owned enterprises, the ministries, departments and agencies and so we have been going with them, we visited Parliament House, they were owing about a GHS13million they have committed to paying GHS8.5million, we saw evidence of that.
“We went to the Ghana Airpot Company, they owed arrears of GHS28million of which they made GHS10 million payment instantly just when we got there so we have given them 48 hours to make the full payment.”
She added “Now, we are here at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, they also owe in arrears of about GHS6 million but they have explained to us that because of the way they run their operations they wouldn’t be able to cough out the money for us instantly, they have had some discussions with the Minister of Information and the National Media Commission together with the Ministry of Energy and there was some sort of agreement last years. However, ECG’s point is that there has not been any movement on the debt that is remaining.
“They have explained to us they have a system and they are going to get some money and pay because they have to find innovative ways of coming up with the money and so we have been giving permission to leave them for now for 48 hours.”
The ECG has also been disconnecting homes and industries over debts.
Laila Abubakar said “In Tema, we have received photos of disconnections happening in residences, we have received photos of them in some of the industries in Tema and they are being disconnected.
“I am hoping that by the end of the day, we should be able to see a lot of money coming in into our accounts.
“Our system has been digitized in such a way that by the end of the day the Managing Director will be able to see how much we have recouped from this exercise and so we will report in a timely basis how much we are making on a weekly basis.”
It was a beholding sight at the various Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) offices across the as scores of customers owing the company trooped in to settle their debts to forestall any implications of sanctions.
Residents of La in Accra, on Monday, March 20, 2023, boycotted all activities and stormed the Company’s offices to pay their outstanding bills.
This is after officials of ECG, as part of a month-long revenue generation exercise, descended on the community to disconnect customers owing it.
The Company’s officials from the Makola District Team, Accra East Region, told the Ghana News Agency that some residents owed bills for months and years, with others engaged in “bypasses” – their consumptions not passing through meters.
For instance, a two-storey building, which had a pharmacy at the ground floor and sports bar at the first and floors in the Community had two of its three prepaid meters tampered with.
The occupants of the edifice were given a summon letter.
A bartender too had her meter disconnected for refusing to pay her debt of GHS3,700.
After acquiring the meter, she never paid a bill because there were no bills coming from ECG since 2021.
Madam Mary Eshun Oppong, Communications Officer, Accra East ECG, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said: “Most people don’t pay their bills with the excuse of not receiving bills. The least amount we have seen them owe is around GHS1,500 and the highest is GHS5,000,” she said.
Madam Eshun Oppong said the disconnection had yielded results, with the affected individuals and households making prompt payments.
The Ghana News Agency observed that some residents closed their shops until the ECG Officials left.
The team will continue its work in the community for some days before moving to another area.
The Ho Airport, the Ho regional office of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ho Technical University, KFC , among other notable institutions have been removed from the national debt over outstanding debts.
The aforementioned institutions are said to owe the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over GH¢605,000.
The disconnection was conducted on the first day of the company’s nationwide revenue mobilization exercise in the eleven operational districts of ECG in the Volta and Oti Regions.
“The company has disconnected KFC for owing GH¢68,000, Ho Airport for owing GH¢63,000, GRA Office for owing GH¢55,000, CEPS training academy for owing GH¢80,000, and Ho Technical University for owing GH¢402,000.
However, Ho Technical University paid GH¢200,000 after crunch talks with the ECG and have been told to settle the arrears by the end of March”, stated in a press release signed by the Volta Regional Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Obeng Antwi.
The University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) made an upfront payment of GH¢1 million out of GH¢1.400,000 and was given a week’s deadline to pay the remaining GH¢400,000
ECG hopes to retrieve about GH¢292 million in the Volta and Oti Regions, within the one-month revenue mobilization exercise, which will see it visit debtors such as the Ho Teaching Hospital, and the National Communications Authority among other state agencies and private institutions.
“We want customers to prioritize the payment of bills and this will enable us to collect more revenue to keep the power sector operating.
The company is appealing to all customers to make payment before the disconnection team visits their premises. Customers can make payments at any bank or through mobile money. Customers can also pay by dialing *226# or by downloading the ECG PowerApp”.
In order to avoid being disconnected, Parliament has paid theElectricity Company of Ghana(ECG) about GH8 million of the GH13 million debt it owe.
The payment comes after revenue mobilization task force from ECG visited Ghana’s legislative house with the intention of disconnecting it from the national grid.
The exercise is part of the power distributor’s effort to recover over GH¢5 billion of debt accrued by private and state institutions for non-payment since August last year.
The exercise began today, March 20, 2023, after ECG announced the closure of its main offices except for customer support departments in order to embark on a one-month-long exercise.
The taskforce is currently heading to another institution.
Failure of Parliament to settle an outstanding debt of GHS13 million debt it owes the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) may lead to the disconnection of the House from the National Grid.
In view of this, Parliament is currently in discussion with officials from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over the debt.
The outcome of this discussion will determine whether the House stays connected to the national grid or is plunged into darkness.
A disconnection team is at the premises as the negotiations proceed.
This forms part of the Company’s bid to retrieve a total of about GH¢5.7 billion in unpaid bills across the country.
Parliament is advancing talks to pay GH¢1 million upfront out of its GH¢13 million debt in order to keep the lights on for now.
“It looks like Parliament is offering some GH¢1 million upfront to prevent the disconnection but the ECG will have none of that,” JoyNews’ James Avedzi said on the Midday News.
The ECG on March 14, disconnected the power supply to the Energy Ministry which plunged the entire Ministry into darkness for almost half a day.
According to the sources, power was, however, restored to the Ministry after it paid its debt bill in full.
The power distributor will from Monday, March 20, embark on a massive disconnection exercise in a bid to mobilise revenue.
The exercise is using almost all ECG staff from top management to junior officers to retrieve all the monies owed to them.
The Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama, said the company is owed over GH¢5 billion from the month of September 2022 to February 2023.
He added that the agencies that would refuse to settle their bill immediately will face the same consequence as the Energy Ministry.
The Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has charged the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to disconnect power of every public institution in the country including that of the Ministry of Energy if they default in the payments of their electricity bills, Purefmonline.com reports.
Speaking on Kumasi-based Pure FM in an exclusive interview with Kwame Adinkrah on March 20, 2023, the Energy Minister who doubles as MP for Manhyia South remarked that in principle, charity begins at home so if the Energy Ministry defaults in the payments of their bills, the ECG should without any form of hesitation disconnect their power.
However, he explained that the reports on social media indicating his outfit suffering a disconnection exercise from its agency, ECG, over alleged unpaid electricity bills were untrue.
Napo stated in his explanation that his Ministry runs on prepaid meters so it would be impossible for the ECG to disconnect them from the grid.
“We only had prepaid challenges of which on the contrary the ECG intervened to restore power for us.
The ECG should disconnect the Energy Ministry’s power and that of any public institution should they at any point default in making payments for their utility bills.
Kwame, the Ministry of Energy is no exemption from this principle should it come to that.
The ECG must not relent in its effort to recover monies owed them either by private institutions, individuals or state agencies,” Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh charged.
Background
It was reported that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Tuesday, March 14, disconnected power supply to the Energy Ministry which plunged the entire Ministry into darkness for almost half a day.
The Ministry of Energy has refuted claims that it had its power cut off due to unpaid electrical bills.
Speaking on the matter, Communications Specialist at the Ministry, Kofi Abrefa Afena “the Ministry only had prepaid payment challenges and therefore called the ECG to intervene”.
He added that “The Ministry of Energy as the supervising agency of the ECG will support ECG in recovering all its money accruing from energy sold to consumers. The Ministry will lead by example in paying for its energy consumed”.
In order for ECG and NEDCo to be able to offer consumers necessary services, the Ministry, according to Mr. Afena, urges everyone to pay for the energy they use.
Meanwhile, the Electricity Company of Ghana says it will from today, Monday, March 20, embark on a massive disconnection exercise in a bid to mobilise revenue.
The exercise is using almost all ECG staff, from top management to junior officers to retrieve all the monies owed it.
According to the Managing Director, Mr Samuel Dubik Mahama Esq., the company is owed over GH¢5 billion from the month of September 2022 to February 2023. Most of this debt resides with the SOEs and MDAs.
Last Tuesday, the Electricity Company of Ghana paid a visit to the Ministry of Energy, cutting off electricity to the entire building for over half a day.
Power was only restored after the mother ministry of the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) paid their outstanding payment in full.
This will be the fate of many other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) who owe ECG huge amounts of money, forcing the power retailer to embark on a massive revenue mobilization exercise beginning on Monday, March 20, 2023, to Thursday, April 20, 2023.
The exercise is using almost all ECG staff from top management to junior officers to retrieve all the monies owed them.
According to the Managing Director, Mr Samuel Dubik Mahama Esq, the company is owed over GHS 5 billion from the month of September 2022 to February 2023.
Most of this debt resides with the SOEs and MDAs.
The strategy, therefore, is to take these agencies by storm, from March 20, 2023, and those who refuse to settle their bill immediately will be meted the same punishment as the Ministry of Energy.
Ahead of this exercise, Mr Dubik Mahama toured all the operational regions of ECG to sensitize the staff on how to go about the mobilization of the revenue, to respect the customer at all times.
He also reminded the staff that ECG is a business and not a charity and everyone must start to behave as such.
It is expected that at the end of the exercise, 100% of the debt would be recovered.
TheElectricity Company of Ghana(ECG) has urged the public and law enforcement organizations to help it apprehend individuals and organizations who sell fake meters to households.
According to the Company, it was losing millions of Ghana Cedis in revenue due to the activities of those syndicates.
Dr Mark Owusu Ansah, the Revenue Protection Manager of the Accra West ECG, made the appeal when the Company embarked on an exercise to remove and replace fake meters at Adeiso, in the Upper West Akim District of the Eastern Region, on Friday.
The exercise, which started on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, has so far witnessed the removal of over 400 fake meters at Adeiso only, replacing them with original ones.
It formed part of a the “No Fake Meter” campaign aimed at ridding the system of all fake meters and regularising such meter users to maximise revenue.
Dr Ansah noted that the three days’ exercise, so far, had led to the removal of over 400 of such fake meters, amounting to some 1.2 gigawatt of power.
He said, monetary-wise, over Gh¢1 million of revenue had been lost as a result of the use of the fake meters over the past one to three years.
“From 28th February to March 2, 2023, we’ve recovered 400 of them and this 400, when you quantify the loses they’ve created, within these three days, we’ve been able to recover 1.2 gigawatts,” he said.
The Revenue Protect Manger added that “when you compare this 1.2gigawatts to cash term, it is Gh¢1 million plus within this three days so if we should recover 1000s of them, then you understand the harm they are causing,” he added.
In 2021, the Accra West Region alone lost close to GH¢4 million in nine months through illegal connection activities.
Illegal connection activities robbed the Company of some 3.9 million kilowatts per hour (3.9mkWh) of power between the months of January and September 2021, resulting in a revenue loss of GH¢3.9 million to the Company.
He said the Company was, therefore, collaborating with State security agencies, including the Police and the National Investigation Bureau (NIB) to arrest the syndicates and solicited support from the public.
“Those who are selling these meters, whoever knows where they are should come to us privately. We will protect your identity, help us to get them so that we put a stop to it. If anybody also think by his own can organise the Police to arrest them should arrest them, let ECG know and we will come for them,” he encouraged.
Dr Ansah also indicated that the Company would continue with the exercise until it got rid of all such fake meters.
He urged persons who were using such meters to come forward and help the Company replaced the meters at no cost.
“We’ll remove and replace it with a genuine meter and recover whatever the customer has used to defray some of our losses but fortunately, ECG, being a good services Company, it has been with people for three years, two years, etc, we are here to correct. So, we’ll replace the meter and recover for only one year because some of them were innocent,” said Dr Ansah.
“We have some of them that deliberately went for the meters. Some too were swindled, they were duped, they had no idea. Some too took it from SHEP, SHEP is different. This one, it’s not the mode of supply that is worrying us but because it cannot capture any unit,” he added.
The ECG, in October last year, commenced an exercise in some communities in the Eastern Region to rid the system of fake meters where the situation was prevalent.
The communities are Daaman, Sakyikrom, Amoakrom, Duadekye, Ntoaso, Kofisah and Newton, are Akwamu, Oparekrom, Nkyenen-kyene, Amanfrom and Adeiso, all in the Nsawam district.
The exercise was carried out by the Accra West ECG in collaboration with the ECG Nsawam District Office.
A shopkeeper, 24, has been detained by the police after she locked a member of the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) monitoring team in her store.
The staff were conducting a monitoring exercise to evaluate the condition of the local pre-paid meters.
The shop, which had previously lost power due to engaging in a meter by-pass, was brought to the team’s notice because it had been reconnected without the use of ECG.
The shop owner, Enoch Kwafo, allegedly ordered [Veronica Ansah] his attendant to lock the ECG staff up while they called a mob to attack him.
The locked-up staff was, however, rescued by colleagues who had visited nearby premises. The case was reported to the police and the attendant was arrested.
Dr Mark Owusu Ansah, Accra West Regional Revenue Protection Manager, ECG, said: “The customer had reconnected power to his shop on three previous occasions despite a bill slapped on him for engaging in illegal connection.”
In an interview, he said the shop owed Gh¢10,517.53.
“The customer has not approached us to clear this debt, and keeps reconnecting himself anytime we disconnect him,” Dr Owusu Ansah said.
The Accra West General Manager, ECG, Ebenezer Ghunney expressed concerns over incidents of threats and attacks on staff of the Company while they carried out their legitimate duties.
“We are liaising with the security agencies to ensure that our staff work in the best congenial and peaceful atmosphere always,” he said.
He said the Company would take action against anyone who impeded the work of its field staff.
Last year, the Accra West Region recovered GH¢10,363,755 from 1,900 customers who were apprehended for engaging in various forms of illegal connections.
These customers were surcharged for the power they used and some were also tried in court for stealing power.
The Accra West Region has eight operational districts.
They are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korlebu and Nsawam.
As the municipality gets ready to hold the 66th Ghana Independence Day parade, the Ho Municipal Assembly and theElectricity Company of Ghana(ECG) have joined forces to improve the street lighting system in the area.
The two organizations have strengthened their collaboration to ensure that the streets of Ho are properly lit.
As a result, over two thousand street lights have been replaced within the Municipality and extended to adjoining roads leading to the Ho township.
A walk within the Ho Municipality especially in the evening now shows well lit streets which hitherto was not the situation.
The strengthening of the collaborative efforts between the Electricity Company of Ghana and theHo Municipal Assemblyis aimed at providing residents and visitors with a well-lit and safer environment to celebrate the independence day parade which will be held within the Ho Municipality of the region. Its also seeks to enhance the beauty of the city and make it more attractive to tourists, thereby boosting the local economy.
GBCNEWS learnt that ECG has committed to providing supervisory works on replacing, installing and helping to repair street lights in key areas within the municipality. Over two thousand street lights have therefore been replaced within the Municipality while additional street lights have also been extended to adjoining roads leading to the Municipality.
A walk within the Municipality especially in the evening now shows well-lit streets which hitherto was not the case. The situation has also resulted in improved security within the municipality and an improvement in night life in Ho.
In an interview with the Volta Regional Engineer for the ECG, Engineer Michael Buabin, said adequate measures have been put in place to ensure that the Municipality enjoys stable power in the run-up to the event on March 6, 2023.
“We have spoken to our colleagues the GRIDCO people that before, during and after this all important celebrations they should make sure that there is no outage from their side” he noted.
“This communication has gotten to our head office and the head office of GRIDCO. Over 2000 street lights have been replaced within the Municipality and even extended to adjoining roads leading to the ho township and it’s environs” he added.
A co-chairman of the Grounds and Event Committee of the Local Organizing Committee who is also the Ho Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Divine Richard Komla Bosson, in an interview with GBCNEWS expressed his excitement at the partnership and emphasized the importance of proper lighting in creating a safe and attractive environment for residents and visitors.
“I have entered into an MOU with ECG that operation lets lighten all the street lights in town. All these things will add up to the beauty and the development that we are yearning for” he opined.
It is believed that the collaboration between the Ho Municipal Assembly and ECG is a promising step towards a brighter and safer future for the residents of Ho.
