The Ashanti Regional Office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has given a three-month ultimatum to all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the region to settle all their outstanding bills or risk being disconnected.
The directive follows a recent government announcement that it would no longer bear the cost of power used by the MDAs and the MMDAs.
The government directive was firmed up by a Ministry of Finance circular to ECG and copied to the affected agencies to be responsible for their bills with effect from January 2014.
The Ashanti Regional General Manager of the ECG, Mr Jones Ofori Atta, was addressing heads and various representatives of the affected agencies at a special forum in Kumasi last Wednesday.
He urged them to come to terms quickly with the new development and set aside money for that purpose to avoid any embarrassment.
Mr Ofori Atta also said the ECG could just have followed the directive without prior notice to the affected agencies but it found it prudent to engage them before taking action.
The regional manager also said the government was the biggest shareholder in the ECG and urged the MDAs and MMDAs to make the payment of their ECG bills a priority.
The acting Regional Commercial Manager of Ashanti West, Dr Kwabena Adomah, gave a presentation on the current power situation in the region and the need for customers to be prudent in its usage.
The Ashanti Regional Public Relations Manager of the ECG, Mr Eramus Kyere Baidoo, outlined the current load management schedule and assured the representatives that the ECG would abide strictly by it.
At least 36 representatives attended the forum.
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