The Electricity Company of Ghana has disconnected some 200 customers in Dambai for non-payment of power consumed.
The disconnections were done as part of the company’s one-month nationwide revenue mobilization exercise which began on 20th March 2023.
The ECG is embarking on this nationwide exercise to retrieve about 5.7 billion Cedis from its debtors with about 220 million Cedis in the Volta Region.
According to the acting Volta Regional General Manager of ECG, Ing. Michael Buabi, these 200 customers disconnected from the national grid owe the ECG over 780,000 Cedis.
He added that some customers who reconnected themselves after disconnection were later disconnected from the main pole.
“During the disconnection exercise, we noticed that some customers normally reconnect themselves after we disconnect from the meter, so such customers were disconnected from the pole and were asked to visit the District Office to settle their indebtedness”.
Ing. Buabin reiterated that ECG as a company does not take delight in disconnecting customers as the company buys and sells power hence the more a customer consumes power, the more the company makes money, “so we don’t take delight in disconnecting customers since we don’t get revenue from unserved power”.
However, these customers were disconnected after several engagements because their debt profile was high.
“Some customers in the remote areas of our Dambai District were owing 5000 cedis and above which was worrying so disconnection which is always the last resort was done to enable them make arrangements to pay their bills to reduce their debt.”
Since the exercise began, the ECG office in the Oti Regional Capital Dambai, has visited areas like Katanga, Tokoroano, Dormabin, Asukawkaw and the Dambai Market.
According to Ing. Buabin, the company has received positive responses through the payment of bills since the exercise began in the Dambai District.
“Payment from Dambai District has been encouraging as the District has achieved its target for the first two weeks. The company has collected over Cedis 700,000 in the Dambai District since this exercise began”.
The Acting Dambai District Manager, Mr. Solomon Adjiku, added that the company has also apprehended one customer who engaged in illegal connection in Dambai District and has handed the customer over to the police.
He further appealed to customers to desist from illegal connections since it’s criminal to steal power and ECG will prosecute anyone caught stealing power.
“The ECG is appealing to all customers to make the payment of electricity bills as one of their topmost priorities to enable the company keep the electricity supply chain operational since the revenue ECG gathers from customers keeps our lights on”, he said.
Customers can pay their bills by downloading the ECG PowerApp on Google Play Store or App Store or through the USSD shortcode *226#.
