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The 7-day ultimatum given by Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) has been rubbished by the Commission’s Public Relations Officer, Nana Yaa Gyantuah.

According to her, PUWU has no locus as a utility service provider to instruct its regulator which is backed by the law to act independently in discharging its duties to protect both the interest of the utility service provider and the consumer.

Workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), have given the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) a seven-day ultimatum to retract its directive to the ECG to suspend the use of the new billing software.

The workers threatened to withdraw their services if the PURC did not heed their call, as they had faced harassment and intimidation from the public since the announcement of the directive on May 24, 2016.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, the General Secretary of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), Mr Ato Kwamena Bondzi-Quaye, said the PURC failed to discuss its findings on the billing software with the ECG management before issuing the directive.

Nana Yaa Gyantuah responding to the ultimatum on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, said, nobody including organisations have the right to give instructions to the PURC.

“The law says we are not under any control of any anybody and organisation and so I don’t see how they can give us a 7-day ultimatum. Besides, the union has not written any letter to us and we don’t take instruction from a press conference; I cannot see how a utility service provider that we regulate can give us ultimatum,” she chided.

She reminded the workers of ECG that it was this same PURC which stood on its grounds to increase tariff under a serious circumstance of load shedding; wondering why consumers cannot be protected after detecting over-billing through 60 percent complaints from consumers.

“We have investigated and assessed everything and it has been established that the fault is with this software. How can a consumer be billed from 2016 to 2099? This is strictly an error which must be rectified. We want peace to rein in Ghana and that is why we have shielded so many findings and instructed ECG to suspend the billing till we resolve the issue,” she stated.