General News of Thursday, 7 December 2017

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

ECG staff don't know how to communicate - Angry customers

Some angry customers of ECG complain ECG staff don't know how to communicate play videoSome angry customers of ECG complain ECG staff don't know how to communicate

Some angry customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) who thronged the ECG Project office near the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra to find solutions to why they are having challenges with their prepaid have said the ECG staff are communicating properly to them.

In an interview Ghanaweb, the angry customers said they have been at the ECG office since Tuesday and no tangible reason is given to them.

“I feel that we haven’t been treated well as citizens. We need to be informed. I believe that if we have had an information, this would have been averted” a customer said with anger.

Another customer said Instead going to work, he has to spend his entire day at the ECG office just to find a way of getting electricity to use in his house.

ECG customers in some parts of Accra have been struggling to purchase power for days without success.

Residents of Achimota, Kaneshie, Dansoman and Korle Bu, Tesano and surrounding areas, have been the most affected by the problem.

Meanwhile, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has hinted at possible sanctions against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as some customers cannot purchase prepaid power due to server challenges.

In a statement issued on Thursday, December 7, the Executive Secretary of the PURC Mrs Mami Dufie Ofori stated that the commission has requested ECG to show reasons why it should not be punished for the recent challenges.

PURC is “requesting the company (ECG) to show cause in respect of monetary penalties to be imposed with a response deadline of December 8, 2017, in accordance with due process”.

The commission further plans to undertake comprehensive independent investigations into ECG’s IT infrastructure to ascertain the root cause of the system failure which will inform further regulatory actions.

PURC said after investigations, they have ordered ECG to “immediately augment its help desks in all affected district offices to deal with the large numbers and inform the public of the measures being undertaken to resolve the problem”.


Additionally, PURC has “issued initial time-bound directives to ECG to submit details of its emergency response measures carried out”.