The Ashanti South Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has embarked on an operation to analyse its debt portfolio, in an attempt to reduce and also rectify all the challenges within the metering system.
As part of the operation, the region is deploying its staff into the various districts to all debtors, from domestic customers to special load tariff users.
As of April 2024, the total debt portfolio of the entire Ashanti South, which comprises districts such as Obuasi, Manso Nkwanta and Dunkwa, stood at GH¢652 million.
This amount was owed by 183,000 postpaid customers scattered across the region, including Special Load Tariff customers.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Ashanti South Regional Manager of ECG, Frederick Kwabena Bediako, said an analysis of the portfolio showed that about 8,700 customers, which represents about 4.5 per cent of the total customers of the company, owed them about 35 per cent of the total debt.
Consequently, he said the operation was targeted at chasing the 4.5 per cent of the customers to claim about 35 per cent of the debt and then go all out. He said the exercise was in phases and the first phase that took them to Obuasi yielded some positive results and that about GH¢1.3 million in debt was collected.
Mr Bediako said in Obuasi, although the team was expected to screen 3,000 customers whose debt portfolio was GH¢203 million, by the end of the first week in May, the team had managed to screen 899 customers and identified certain anomalies.
For instance, he said 66 of the meters that had a total debt of GH¢1.34 million had been removed from their geographical locations and could not be found, while 68 other meters could not be traced.
The Regional Manager said the meters with specific Global Positioning System (GPS), remained the properties of ECG and no one had the right to remove or relocate them without the express consent of the company.
He said the region would be monitoring and evaluating the impact of the exercise, after which it would name and shame those who would reconnect themselves.
He appealed to the customers of the company to pay their bills to avoid the embarrassment of disconnection and prosecution.
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