Reduction in electricity tariffs affects only energy consumed – ECG
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says the recent announced reductions in tariffs by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) only reflects in the calculation of energy consumption.
The PURC some few weeks ago announced reductions in tariffs to the tune of 17.5 per cent for residential, 30 per cent for non-residential, 10 per cent and 25 per cent respectively for mines and special load tariff consumers.
At a media engagement on Friday, officials of the Tema Regional office of the ECG, explained that calculating the stated reduction on their final bill would result in a wrong conclusion.
They further noted that the percentage must be calculated on the actual energy consumed by the customer before adding levies and service charges to the final bill as these charges and levies remained constant.
The Officials urged consumers to remember that every unit of power consumed was equivalent to a kilowatt per hour and therefore must be calculated as such.
Meanwhile, the Tema Regional ECG office in 2017 recovered a total of GH¢6,470,169.55 stolen power from five out of its seven districts.
The amount recovered forms part of a total of GH¢ 9,168,063 accumulated debt by customers engaged in illegal connections, metre by-pass, among others.
Mrs Zita Kyei-Gyemfi, Tema ECG Region’s Revenue Protection Manager, who disclosed this, said 96,000 customers were visited during a special revenue recovery project in the area in 2017.
Mrs Kyei-Gyemfi added that 97 persons involved in power theft were successfully prosecuted during the period.
Mr Joseph Mensah Forson, Tema Region’s ECG Manager on his part, said per their records, more energy theft were done within the Tema industrial areas.
Mr Forson therefore asked for media support to name and shame such customers to serve as a deterrent to others.
He added that legally consuming and paying for power would enable the ECG to get the needed resources to effectively serve customers without hitches.
Source: GNA