90,000 customers owe Electricity Company ?35bn in Kumasi

Some 90,000 out of the 110,000 customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in Kumasi owe ?35 billion in unpaid bills. To this end, the ECG is currently undertaking mass disconnection to compel defaulting customers to pay up.

The huge debt has put severe pressure on the company's finances, as it struggles to find money to pay staff, improve upon its systems and maintain its equipment.

Painting this gloomy picture to the media in Kumasi this week, the Ashanti Regional Director of ECG, William Hutton-Mensah, said the situation has compelled the company to intensify its revenue mobilisation in order to improve its revenue base. He announced that power would be restored to disconnected customers only after they had paid the full amount involved and the reconnection fee.

According to the Regional Director of the ECG, a monitoring patrol team of the ECG, in collaboration with the police, has been going round in the night to check on customers who may have made illegal reconnections.

About 300 people have been caught in this net and made to settle the full debt and the re-connection fee, in addition to a penalty of ?200,000, Hutton-Mensah said.

The Ashanti Regional Public Relations of ECG, William Boateng, said despite the difficulties being encountered, the company has been able to improve the electricity supply systems in 48 areas of Kumasi.