ECG disconnection
A resident of Accra and author of The Imported Ghanaian, Alba K. Sumprim, has raised concerns over the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) decision to disconnect an entire eight-apartment block after some residents allegedly failed to settle their electricity bills, leaving even customers who had paid their bills without power.
In a social media post, Ms Sumprim, who said she uses a prepaid meter, questioned the rationale behind disconnecting households with separate meters because of the debts of other residents.
She said the affected residents were told that ECG’s approach was intended to prevent customers with outstanding bills from reconnecting themselves illegally, but argued that the policy had instead inconvenienced customers who were not in arrears.
Below is her write-up:
Yesterday morning, ECG workers came to our area and disconnected my apartment block from the pole.
I live in a block of 8 apartments, each apartment with it’s own electricity meter. I opted for a prepaid meter many years ago for my convenience.
2 days ago, an ECG official was outside taking pictures of the block and asking questions about the residents.
Yesterday, ECG disconnected the whole block, including those who didn’t owe. And this is their reasoning.
They have a new policy. When they go to a building, such as mine, and someone owes, they disconnect the whole building. Why? Because they fear if they disconnect the meters of those owing, those meter owners would find an electrician to reconnect them. So the SMART solution is to inconvenience others.
A few of my neighbours went to ECG at Legon to understand the thinking behind this policy. Some of those owing, paid in full. Two apartments had racked up large bills and claimed not to be in a position to pay. One asked ECG to remove her meter, that she’d figure out a way to pay and be reconnected. ECG claimed they no longer remove meters, what they do now is inconvenience others.
So, 2 apartments in a block of 8 haven’t paid their ECG bills and the rest of us are in darkness. Freezers defrosting, etc., plus the sheer inconvenience of not being able to be comfortable in your own home.
Of course, they played with us saying they would talk to their big boss to see if we could be reconnected, then around 5pm they called back saying their big boss says no one should reconnect the building. After that all their phones were off and we couldn’t contact anyone.
So today, we have to take time off our lives to try and sort this out.
No matter what you do in this country, no matter how well you try to do things and follow laws, people in high positions in this country seem to only be in those position to think of policies that inconvenience people and make our lives difficult.
Our president is out there talking the talk, standing up for African nations, exposing the injustices of the West and making things difficult for Africans. We’re applauding him, while at the same time our own Ghanaian officials are coming up with policies that don’t serve us.
I have a prepaid meter and yet I’m in darkness because a neighbour, a separate household with a separate meter hasn’t paid their bill. Make that make sense.
