TIG Post

Tag: National Grid

  • Osu Police Barracks allegedly disconnected from national grid over illegal connection

    Osu Police Barracks allegedly disconnected from national grid over illegal connection

    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.

  • GRA, Ho airport, and KFC, others removed from national grid over outstanding debts

    GRA, Ho airport, and KFC, others removed from national grid over outstanding debts

    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”. 

  • National Grid: Coal plants shut down in order to supply electricity

    National Grid has shut down two coal plants that were on standby to generate electricity in the event that supplies were disrupted due to cold weather.

    On Monday, the company asked Drax, which owns Britain’s largest power station, to prepare two coal-fired units.

    It is still planning to run a test of its scheme, which offers bill credits to households that reduce peak-time electricity use on Monday evenings.

    The move comes as the United Kingdom experiences a cold spell.

    It means that as more people heat their homes, demand for energy rises, and a lack of wind has reduced the amount of renewable energy available.

    It is understood because of the cold temperatures, Monday will be the highest demand day for electricity so far this winter.

    National Grid said earlier on Monday that while it had asked Drax to warm up its two coal-fired units at its site near Selby, North Yorkshire, the plants might not be used. It confirmed at lunchtime the power station had been told to stand down.

    It said households should “continue to use energy as normal”.

     

    The UK receives electricity via subsea cables from European countries including France, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, but higher demand in Europe could potentially disrupt supplies to the UK and would trigger the need for coal-generated energy.

    In October, National Grid warned there was a risk of blackouts over the winter months as a last resort if energy supplies reach low levels.

    Fintan Slye, executive director of National Grid, told the BBC on Monday that power outages were “still a possibility”, but said the network operators remained “cautiously optimistic through the winter that we will be able to manage it”.

    “We have enough supplies secured through the rest of the day that we can manage that and ensure there’s no disruption to customers’ supplies,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

    However, the electricity system operator (ESO) arm of National Grid said it was running a test of a scheme on Monday that offers discounts on bills for households who cut their electricity use at peak times between 17:00 and 19:00.

    It allows people to save cash if they avoid high-power activities, such as cooking or using washing machines, when demand is high. National Grid has said this could save households up to £100 over the winter.

    But only homes with smart meters and whose supplier is signed up to the “Demand Flexibility Scheme” will be able to take part. About 14 million homes, less than half of all households in England, Scotland and Wales, have a smart meter installed.

    Mr Slye said the test had been triggered because National Grid wanted to “test how consumers would respond when the weather was really cold”. It is understood a decision was made by National Grid at 14:30 GMT on Sunday.

    According to National Grid ESO’s website, British Gas, EDF, Eon and Octopus are signed up to the scheme but Scottish Power appears not to be.

    Octopus told the BBC that almost 250,000 of its customers had signed up to Monday’s two-hour test so far, adding that its customers across the country had been paid £1m so far from taking part in previous “saving sessions”.

    British Gas also confirmed it would be contacting customers to take part in Monday’s scheme, but EDF said it would not be participating as it was finalising its plans.