The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is paying 17 billion cedis a week for power from the Volta River Authority (VRA) as against the previous practice of crediting.

The ECG is indebted to VRA by 400 billion cedis incurred in 1998 during the energy crisis when the VRA brought in emergency power plants, while the tariff remained the same.

Mr Christian Sowah Tetteh, Director of Finance, who disclosed these in Tema on Tuesday said ECG could not account for 25 per cent of power that is supplied by

VRA, and with the 75 per cent, that is sold, "we cannot collect the debt efficiently".

However, he said, the ECG has now put up structures to also retrieve its debts from companies and individuals, adding that a number of measures have been taken to provide quality service to its customers to redeem its sunken image.

Mr Tetteh, who chaired the opening of a four-day workshop organised by the Power Queens Ladies Club for 40 participants of its members drawn from all the regions is under the theme: "The role of women in the new ECG". Some of the topics to be discussed are, "career development of women," leadership role, capacity building and gender balance.

Mr Tetteh said the Ghana Water Company (GWC) is supposed to pay six billion cedis a week to the ECG but has refused to honour its obligation and "we would soon dialogue with them to help them find a system to pay a total of 100 billion cedis owed to us." He explained that there is no need to disconnect them at this stage.

On the Value Added Tax (VAT), he said, the ECG is still negotiating to pay in spite of its financial constraints and called on all defaulters of the ECG to pay their bills promptly to enable it to function efficiently.

In an address read for her, Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs noted that the power sector of the economy needs to be effectively managed for social and economic growth.

She called on women as natural managers both at home and workplace, to contribute towards efficient management utilization and preservation of energy, especially electricity, noting that they have a role to play in the improvement of customer services and efficient management of finances.

Mr Kwame Owusu, Special Advisor to the Minister of Energy noted that losses incurred by the ECG are as a result of inefficient operations, and accused some workers of conniving with some customers to defraud the company.

He urged them to cease the unproductive practice and entreated management to identify such workers and take stringent measures against them to ensure the viability of the company.