Mr Alexander Ottu Larbi, Director of Commercial, Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), has called on electricity consumers to pay their bills to ensure efficient service delivery.
He said most of the customers connected power illegally, which was affecting the company’s finances and efficient service delivery.
He made the call at Tamale on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, during a sensitization seminar by the company for Journalists on the sidelines of their operations.
Mr Alexander said illegal connection also resulted in overloading of transformers leading to drop in voltage of the main supply.
He added that illegal connections also led frequent power outages and cuts, which might cause damage to electrical appliances, and therefore urged the consumers to avoid illegal connections and pay bills on time.
He therefore called on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in the Region to support it sensitize residents in the Region to pay for electricity consumed.
His call is a result of the lack of payment for electricity consumed by customers in the region which greatly affects its operations.
According to him, NEDCo loses GHS 8.5million which is about 45% of revenue in the Northern region every month due to power theft.
“We are in the business of buying electricity and distributing it to customers and so whatever energy we distribute to customers we have to get the revenue back and the only way we can do that is by customers paying”.
He stressed that without revenue coming in there is no way NEDCo can deliver efficient service to its customers adding that the lack of payment by customers has affected the company financially.
“The consumption in the Northern region is the highest and that is where we also lose so much in terms of energy and mainly power theft. People are selling power and that is affecting us so much. So we are here to serve our customers and to give them reliable power and we also want them to reciprocate by paying their bills promptly”, Mr Alexander noted.
Ing. John Yamoah, Director of Engineering, NEDCo, said they are determined to clip what he describey as the “devastating operations” of cable thieves in northern Ghana.
Cable theft, often carried out at nighttime, is rampant across the north, throwing communities into sudden darkness.
“Besides the burden of cost implications of cable theft on the country, there are social effects of plunging communities into darkness by stealing cables. It encourages criminal activities in affected areas too”, he noted.
“We want to encourage people to report any suspicious move around our networks particularly in the night. It affects our operation and customers”, Ing. John said.
Source: yagbonradioonline
