The Electricity Company of Ghana loses nearly GHS3.2 billion due to illegal connections, and non-payment of bills, among others, according to the Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.
Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Dr. Prempeh said the ECG losses were from “our inability to pay, unwillingness to pay or power theft.”
He assured that the National Revenue Protection Taskforce was “out in full swing” to remedy this challenge with revenue.
“The National Revenue Protection Taskforce is going out because the amount of energy ECG is putting in the system, it is not getting the commensurate amount of money back to ensure that it becomes commercially viable.”
“So if ECG loses 400 million dollars, averagely…which company can be viable if you continue to lose the amount of money that the ECG losses,” Dr. Prempeh quizzed.
He stressed that “every Ghanaian must be responsible and pay for the energy he or she consumes, or else you will be visited by the Revenue Protection Taskforce.”
The Electricity Company of Ghana recently indicated its readiness to go after about 30 private and public institutions that owe it GHS 120 million.
Some of these institutions owe as much as about GHS 45 million and have not shown any commitment despite receiving disconnection notices from ECG, according to Citi News sources.
The institutions include the Ghana Airport, University of Ghana, Accra International Conference Center (AICC), Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and Parliament.
