So the men and women at the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), expect the public to take them seriously and believe them when they come out with so-called warnings to utility providers for poor service delivery? We doubt very much.
In fact the good people of this country, like the Ghanaian Times, have lost count of the several warnings that the PURC, ever since it was crated, has given to these providers and which have, as expected, fallen on deaf ears.
We are tempted, to conclude that, the PURC is gradually becoming like those public organisations, who always run to the media to make noise to create the impression, that they are on top of their jobs, when in actual fact, they are existing just in the name.
One of such warnings was issued yesterday at a meeting with the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Volta River Authority, the Grid Company and the Ghana Water Company over the intermittent power outages and water shortages being experienced by consumers in some parts of the country.
According to Mr Stephen Adu, Executive Secretary of the PURC, the Commission was not satisfied with the kind of service being rendered to the public by the utility providers and that every attempt should be made to ensure that the consumer, who pays for the service get value for money.
In addition, the Ghana Water Company must present an implementation framework to PURC, spelling out plans and strategies aimed at solving the issue of water shortages in the country.
�The PURC will not hesitate to apply the necessary sanctions and penalties to any service provider that does not adhere to the highest level of service delivery to the public�, he emphasized. Tough talk, but of what effect?
And the responses? Representatives of the electricity providers assured the PURC that even though there were disturbances due to the fragile nature of the system, there was enough power to feed the systems and pledged their willingness to ensure the highest level of service was delivered to the consumer.
The GWC and AVRL agreed that there were problems in the delivery of water services to the public in parts of Kumasi and especially in Madina and Adenta areas in Accra but �every effort was being made to rectify the situation.� have we not heard it before?
This is the situation in which Ghanaians find themselves now as far as service delivery is concerned. Lame warnings and deceitful assurances.
Was it not the ECG, which a only a few weeks back, told the whole nation that power outages were a thing of the past? So what has gone wrong, so soon, that of late power goes off like candle in a windy area?
And are consumers, not entitled to any warning or communication, before the lights are put off? Is the ECG aware of the harm it has caused to many homes and installations through the numerous, irritating unannounced power cuts? Or it is still clinging to its stated position that it cannot be sued and therefore does not give a hoot?
As at now, consumers are left unprotected. The service providers are behaving as if there is no law regulating their operations, all because the legally-mandated body, charged to enforce the law, can only show the teeth but cannot bite.
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