PURC directs utility companies to refund over GH¢207,000 to consumers

The Ashanti Regional Office of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has helped to refund a total of GH¢207,513.98 to some aggrieved customers of some public utility companies in the region.

The refund were made after settlement meetings between the Commission, the utility providers which were mainly the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company, as well as the affected customers.

This involved the crediting of the utility accounts of the affected customers with the full amount overcharged.

Mr Francis Baidoo, Ashanti Regional Manager of the Commission told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Kumasi that a total of 25 customers of ECG and Ghana Water Company received refunds in 2021.

He said the refund was carried out as prescribed in the PURC consumer service regulations, which stipulated clearly that a public utility should not overcharge a consumer,

Mr Baidoo said the office received a total of 931 complaints against the ECG and GWCL last year and out of this figure, 867 complaints were resolved.

He said the complaints were categorised into billing, quality of service, unlawful disconnection, payments, damaged of property and metering.

Mr Baidoo said some customers have created numerous problems for ECG through unauthorised power connections.

These had resulted in either low or high power voltages which often ended up damaging metres and properties of genuine customers.

He said through illegal connections the utility companies lose huge amounts of monies and were unable to reach their targets and this had affected their outputs.

Mr Baidoo advised the public to stop the illegal connections and pay their bills promptly to enable the utility companies provide the required services for the benefit of all.

Source: GNA