Management of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCo) and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Upper East Region say, they are taking steps to retrieve over GH¢132 million owed them by customers.
According to the utility providers, customers’ indebtedness to the GWCL stands at over GH¢1 millon whilst that of NEDCo is GH¢ 131 million, a situation management say is negatively affecting their operations.
Aside non-payment of bills, illegal connections and meter theft were among key challenges affecting the delivery of efficient utility services in the region.
Speaking to Citi News, Upper East Regional Area Manager of NEDCo, Eugune Addo, said, though NEDCo is striving to provide customers better service, non-payment of bills and illegal connections remain a bane on their operations.
“As of the end of 2021, customers owed us (NEDCo) GH¢131 million, and we are doing our best within our resources to let the customers pay and sometimes go to court to get them pay. We have come out with a prepaid system where customers buy the power upfront, so we are doing everything possible, including using technology to improve our collection.”
Illegal connection, is one of our challenges. Last year, our losses were about 23% which means that almost a quarter of the power we procure to sell is lost, and it is something that we need to pay attention to because the sustainability of the business depends on that”.
For his part, the Regional Chief Manager of GWCL, Hanson Mensah-Akuetteh, assured residents of an end to water rationing in the region but bemoaned non-payment of bills as a challenge affecting service delivery.
Mr. Mensah-Akuetteh, hinted that, the company was radical, in pursuing all defaulters to settle their indebtedness.
“We (GWCL) are having about GH¢1 million revenue losses due to non-payment of bills, which we are trying to recover as soon as possible. We are running a revenue mobilization to ensure that all customers that are owing us are being brought to book and being made to pay their bills.”
“We have sent our customers demand notices to inform them about their cost and see how best we could arrange our schedule and how they could pay. In default of not paying, we will subsequently move to the court for which we will retrieve our monies, and we are doing that to ensure that we recover these arrears”.
