The Public Utility Regulatory Commission says it would launch investigations into an alleged over-billing and insertion of hidden charges in the billing systems of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company.
There have been apprehensions by residents and business owners in the Upper East region over dwindling quantity of units and its speedy consumption in their prepaid meters. Others have also raised suspicions of some hidden charges slapped on them by the utility provider and hence have called for an investigation to unravel the provoking situation.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East show Wednesday, Public Affairs Director of the PURC Nana Yaa Jantuah said the concerns of electricity consumers within the NEDCO zone have come to the notice of the regulatory body and that an enquiry has been initiated to check out for possible anomalies in the billing and metering system of NEDCO.
She explained though the PURC has ordered the suspension of a billing software by the Electricity Company of Ghana, the order does not cover NEDCO because it has not deployed any new software for its operations but noted that the investigations have become necessary following concerns from consumers.
“I don’t think NEDCO has deployed any new billing software but certainly we would do the same exercise in the NEDCO area because we have had complains of over-billing, units running so fast and vanishing. So when we have concluded on this one {ECG} we would come up north to the NEDCO area to find out what the problem actually is with the meters that they have.”
According to her, the regional offices of the PURC have already commenced data gathering and compilation of old and new prepaid receipts from customers after which actual investigations and meter testing would be carried out in the NEDCO zone.
She added that aside the speedy consumption of some meters which calls for interrogations, the issue of hidden charges can’t be completely ruled out following revelations in the ECG zone that some customers were charged well over 300% when the ceiling point is 100%.
“There will be sanctions on the utility provider even before a refunding of the units to customers if it’s established that there have been instances of over-billing,” she added.
By: Azongo Albert | A1RADIOONLINE.com | GHANA
