Occupants of over 300 households of Asantekae, Asawinso and Adwumam communities in the Asunafo South District in the Brong Ahafo have been living in darkness for weeks after the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) disconnected their power for non-payments of bills and consumption of power without meters fitted to their homes and properties.
The situation according to the Unit Committee Chairman, Kwaku Asante is gradually bringing economic activities to a halt with traders of perishable goods being the worst hit.
[contextly_sidebar id=”jgKF6LEV5OIFEweS8eixIAKKfeFqzvxv”]He explained to Citi News, the communities were connected to the national grid before the 2012 general elections by Eric Opoku, the immediate past regional minister and current Member of Parliament for the area, with a promise to supply them with meters but he has since failed to redeem his promise.
On measures put in place, the Unit Committee Chairman said a list of all affected households has been compiled and forwarded to the District Assembly for redress and appealed to government to intervene to boost the local economy.
Speaking to Citi News, Corporate Communications Manager of NEDCO, Maxwell Kotoka confirmed the disconnections and said it formed part of the company’s routine exercise to find out their customers or clients who are in good standing and will only be restored power to disconnected customers if they satisfy all the requirements of service provision.
He emphasised the disconnection was necessitated because of bad faith exhibited by residents of the three communities in the district for connecting and using power without meters, illegally and in ways that do not meet safety standards of the company since November 2016.
“On this occasion, the exercise revealed that a significant number of customers within a wide range of communities had been connected to our network without any form of measuring their consumption. Under normal circumstance, when we connect our customers, there are ways of measuring their consumption by installing a meter for you or give you a flat rate service after assessing your gadgets for billing you and as a service provider, when we provide the service, we expect to be paid,” he explained.
He added that the residents were consuming power without this process and therefore was not known in the company’s system and therefore was not possible to serve them with bills and hence disconnected them when it was detected and advised the residents to report to the office to assist with investigations into the matter.
He warned the company will initiate legal actions against staff of NEDCO, Community members and imposters who will be found culpable for the situation.
Mr. Kotoka disclosed his outfit has initiated measures and programmes to educate residents on how they operate and how to collaborate with NEDCO for efficient power supply and distribution.
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By: Mashoud Kombat/citifmonline.com/Ghana