ECG Is Broke – Communications Director Defends Tariff Hike Proposal

The Director of Communications at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says the utility company is broke and would need to be resuscitated as soon as possible.

He said the financial quagmire the company finds itself in has largely contributed to its inability to meet public demands in the manner it ought to over the years.

Speaking to JoyNews, he noted that the challenge the company is facing has affected all facets of its service provision to the public even in situations when the service is paid for.

He said, “We are struggling to match the demand for even service connection. People have paid and sometimes for a month and they have not been serviced, you can check. We have some meters available and we don’t have prepaid.

“And this is like, as you made mention, low hanging fruits for example when the person is ready to pay, so what is the problem? And we can’t even, I mean, people call you as if when you want service you’re supposed to know somebody, something that somebody is paying for.”
He explained that the company has been struggling in recent times to acquire prepaid meters as they are expensive, and are not supposed to be sold to the public at the commercial average translating to losses for the company.

“But the meters are not there because they’re expensive, they’re subsidized so we’re not allowed to charge the commercial average of the meters we’re buying and so we have to get the money to buy and still we don’t make it. So these are challenges that we think that you need to meet us halfway,” he said.

He noted that these challenges have led to both logistics and personnel challenges as the company is unable to recoup funds it puts into service provision.

He’s hopeful that following the submission of their proposal to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for a 143% hike in electricity tariffs an approval will support the company’s financial strength to finally meet the demands of Ghanaians as it ought to.

By: Joy News