No old debt will be put on prepaid metres: ECG assures Krobo District customers
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has assured its customers in the Krobo District under the Tema Region that their old debt from 2018 to 2021 will not be paid via prepaid metres that are going on to replace the old postpaid meters.
The company explained that during stakeholders’ engagements with customers in the Krobo District earlier, there was an agreement between the various youth groups, chiefs, churches, Muslim communities, organisations and the two assemblies in Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo that the old debt would not be put on the prepaid metres when installed.
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The Tema Region Marketing Officer of the ECG, Puumaaiya Ruhiya Fuseini, gave the explanation at a public education on the prepaid metres at Belekope, Lolonyo, Ahudjo, Kpong Quarters among others as part of a Smart Prepayment Metering Project in the Krobo area.
Old debt not cancelled
“We have not cancelled the old debt but we shall not put the same on the new prepaid metres when installed. The new agreement with customers is that when the prepaid metres are installed, they must take two years to pay the old debt from 2018 to 2021.
“What will happen is that as you buy credit for your prepaid metres, you as an individual customer will have to make your own arrangement with the company as to how much you can pay monthly per your debt from 2018 to 2021, while we retool or re-fence the debt that generated the impasse in the Krobo District in 2014,” the marketing officer further explained.
PURC mandate
According to the marketing officer, the Public Utility Regulation Commission (PURC), had mandated the company to install the prepaid metres in the Krobo District within six months, adding that “we as a company cannot do anything on our own without the PURC.”
She further explained that a pre-installation survey had already been conducted on more than 3,000 metres in the Kpong area which gave the company the needed information.
She, however, said the actual installation of the prepaid metres would begin this month, aside the pre-installation survey in the other communities within the Krobo District.
“When we take off, we shall move gradually and create vending stations for the convenience of customers to get power as and when they need it,” Ms Fuseini stressed.
The Project Engineer for the Clou Metre Project of the ECG, Mr Yussif Adamu, who gave a detailed public education on the prepaid metres, likened the prepaid metres to smart phones which cannot be used if there was no credit on it.
He, therefore, assured customers that they were going to enjoy electricity the same way if not better when the prepaid metres were in use, provided they always bought credit.
Fraudsters
The Public Relations Officer of the Tema Region of ECG, Sakyiwaa Mensah, stressed the need for customers to avoid “goro boys” within their communities who would cunningly dupe them under the guise of getting them prepaid metres.
“The company has already paid for the prepaid metres and ,therefore, do not engage any ‘goro boy’ who will dupe you under the pretext of getting you a prepaid metre,” she cautioned.
The customers in the communities visited welcomed the installation of prepaid metres but pleaded with the company to visit them frequently to give them more education on its usage when installed.