Select Committee meeting with ECG ends in deadlock

A meeting between the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over electricity bill irregularities has ended in a deadlock.

Other players in the power sector who were present at the meeting included the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the Deputy Minister of Power, John Jinapor and other officials of the Ministry.

The meeting however failed to provide any definite resolution to all the concerns raised over the ECG meters and the billing software.

Meeting was still fruitful
Speaking to the Media after the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, nonetheless described the meeting as fruitful despite the Committee not getting all the answers it expected.

According to him, “we agreed on problems that confront them [ECG]. We are finding a way out of resolving and we have agreed have they bring us extra documents and we are also inviting certain people to come and helps us.

Alhaji Sorogho noted that the committee was well aware of the concerns of customers and gave assurances the committee was working to rectify any problems.

“It has been agreed the yes, there is over-billing, there is a problem and that we should all work very fast to correct the anomaly,” he stated.

Power Ministry task force to audit ECG meters

A special task force set up by the Power Ministry to audit the ECG meters over concerns of over-billing begun work in the Legon District of Accra.

The task force, made up of officials of the PURC, the Energy Commission (EC), the Ministry of Power and ECG, are to run tests on meters and their work so far reveals that most houses in that enclave have been improperly wired.

President John Mahama, via a Facebook post also announced that Cabinet has approved the Inter-Agency Taskforce put together to resolve complaints from the public regarding the bills and charges they receive from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in respect of power consumption.

Suspend 'problematic' billing software
In the meantime, the PURC has instructed the ECG, to suspend the implementation of their new billing software until further notice.

A statement signed by the PURC's Public Relations Director, Nana Yaa Jantuah, said the directive was necessitated by incessant complaints from customers who alleged that they were being over-billed by the ECG.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana