The Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company has refunded a total of GH¢8,000,000.00 to consumers for damages caused to their properties.

The Northern Electricity Distribution Company was also among the beneficiaries, which was due to the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission’s (PURC) Complaint Resolution mechanisms.

Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, the PURC Director, Public Relations and External Affairs, in a statement signed and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra explained that, the commission received and resolved 2,549 complaints from consumers of Electricity and Water last year.

The statement said notable among these were a compensation for a burnt house which attracted a compensatory amount of GH¢185,000.00 and a company whose disputed bill was reduced from GH¢8,012,588.09 to GH¢1,440,676.00

The PURC statement said the categorization of complaints received from Consumers includes over billing, acquisition and faulty meters, unlawful and wrongful disconnections.

The rest are outages associated with faults, quality of Service in terms of no flow of water, low voltages and voltage fluctuations and burst Pipes.

The PURC therefore encouraged consumers of electricity and water to contact the commission in case of any challenge.

The statement said where a complaint made directly to a Utility Provider was not satisfactorily dealt with, the complainant must redirect his or her problem to the Commission for an appropriate redress.

“The Commission wishes to indicate that these Complaints are ones which were unresolved by the Utility Service Providers,” it added.

It said any Public Utility that contravenes the Provisions of the Public Utilities (Complaints Procedure) Regulations 2000(LI1665) would be liable to pay the prescribed penalty units or imprisonment for one year or both.