The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has reacted to a press release by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) which was carried on the front page of the Thursday, July 30 edition of the Daily Graphic. In that statement, the PURC expressed its concern over the practice whereby the ECG and the Northern Electricity Department (NED) of the Volta River Authority (VRA) delayed in demanding payment for services rendered to their customers.
The PURC, therefore, informed the general public that the two companies could not recover the cost of services should they fail to bill customers for a period of 12 months and quoted sections of Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 1816 to support its argument. In its response, the ECG also quoted from the said L.I. and explained that all consumption billed within a previous period of 12 months shall be paid, adding that �where due to the actions of a customer billing was not done within the said period, any accumulated bill raised by the supplier was payable�.
The company also quoted Rule 20 in L.I. 1816 which stated that it was only when it was established that the supplier had been negligent in submitting its bills within the stipulated period that customers might elect not to pay the bills. The ECG said, however, that it was holding discussions with the PURC and gave the assurance that the public would be informed of the outcome in due course. �We expect that consumers who have been billed and are indebted to the ECG for a period of more than 12 months will take the necessary steps to settle their indebtedness,� it said.
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