PURC recovers over GHC24 million for NEDCo

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in the Bono Region has recovered over GHC24 million in outstanding bills from consumers of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) in its operational area in 2022. 

The branch is also responsible for the Bono East and Ahafo Regions.

The regional manager of PURC for the three regions, Patrick Antwi, has said that GHC42,000 was collected on behalf of customers of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and NEDCo in that period. 

Last year, the Bono regional office of the PURC rolled out programmes like “Voice of the Voiceless” and anti-illegal connection campaign, among others.

“Out of this campaign, NEDCo was able to recover about GHC24 million from the activities that were carried out,” Antwi said in an interview with Asaase News. “Now, we would also say that at the same time, we had a lot of issues with people bringing in their complaints that we handled outside.”

Recoveries for consumers

“So, we had complaints that a lot of recoveries were also done for the side of the consumer, but what we also realised is that we were able to retrieve over GHC42,000 for consumers who were wrongfully billed.”

He stated that about 1,076 complaints were received, adding that 1,062 of the complaints were resolved, leaving 14 outstanding.

Antwi said that in pursuit of improved services, NEDCo has replaced 1,300 poles across the three regions, while about 5,000 meters of Ghana Water pipelines were replaced in 2022. Also, 3,114 NEDCo meters were replaced. Ten transformers have been upgraded and 22 transformers have been provided.

He stated that the theme for 2023 is “year of operational efficiency”. He said in the first quarter, they are focusing on a program dubbed “operation pitch camp”. PURC staff will spend time with utility providers to gather first-hand information. Another programme codenamed “know your consumption” is scheduled for the second quarter.

Antwi bemoaned the phenomenon of illegal connections and non-payment of bills in the former Brong Ahafo area. He cautioned consumers to desist from such acts. He also advised the utility providers to improve their customer care services.

Reporting by Daniel Donkor in the Bono Region

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