ECG domestic consumers pay commercial rates

Accra, October 10, GNA- Some domestic consumers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have complained that the company has been billing them with commercial rates.

The consumers mostly from the Accra North West and Accra South West zones who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Friday accused the ECG of a "deliberate attempt to extort money them for no justifiable cause".

A consumer complained bitterly that for the past five months, she has been paying commercial rates instead of domestic rates although she does not use electricity for any commercial activity.

"Since May, I have been paying over one million cedis a month for electrical appliances that I use domestically. Even the bill for September reads 1.7 million cedis for no justifiable cause", she said.

Most of the consumers the GNA talked to expressed similar sentiments and said when they contacted the ECG, it conceded that was an anomaly but the company had refused to make the refund.

A consumer who is a trader said his shop was disconnected four months ago but he always received a bill from the ECG.

He said " the meter always reads zero which only attracts a fixed commercial rate of 22,500 cedis but the bill for September read 3.2 million cedis. Anytime you go to the ECG Office, they tell you it is a computer problem yet we are aware that computer operates on the principle of garbage in garbage out", he said.

When contacted, Mr. Erasmus Badu of the Public Relation Office of the Company said when residents are billed with commercial rates ECG investigates to detect the cause before they act.

He said most of the cases reported are as a result of illegal connection, and this reflects on the bill because the status was already registered on the computer.

Mr Badu said when the company found that the anomaly was an error a refund is credited to the account of the consumer who was affected. He advised consumers to follow the right procedure before installing a meter to avoid embarrassment.