ECG Starts Mass Disconnection Exercise

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has embarked on a mass disconnection exercise of the power supply of customers who are indebted to the company for the past two months. The objective of the exercise is to mobilise revenue for the company following the downtrend of its revenue in recent times. Operation The Managing Director of ECG, Reverend William Hutton - Mensah, told the Daily Graphic during an operation at Nungua, in Accra, that the management of the company had already informed customers through the media that the failure to pay up would lead to the disconnection of their power. During the exercise, individuals and organisations who had failed to pay their electricity bills amounting to GH�602,115.31 had their power disconnected. According to Rev. Hutton - Mensah, failure of customers to pay their bills and other illegalities impacted negatively on the revenue of the company and also caused commercial losses. The ECG recently arrested about 941 customers who indulged in illegal connections and were fined GH�2 million. "If we are able to reduce commercial losses, we could achieve the system losses benchmark of 21 percent set by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission," Rev. Hutton-Mensah said. As of the end of December 2013, the ECG had made losses of 23.3 per cent. Rev. Hutton - Mensah cautioned customers who hired private electricians to reconnect the power after disconnection without recourse to the laid-down procedures, to stop. Warning "Anyone found culpable of this offence will not be spared. The ECG Charge Office is well on standby and anyone found guilty will face the full rigours of the law," he warned. The MD urged ECG�s regional managers in charge of operations, and directors with oversight responsibilities to support the exercise. He also called on the public to inculcate the habit of conserving energy so that more power could be channelled into the productive sectors of the economy and also ensure that more areas would have power during the World Cup period.