The compensation is to come in the form of “one-time electricity credit” in February 2018, and it is expected to cost the ECG GHc 1,927,920.45.

[contextly_sidebar id=”GXNR4IpFGYcqHRPud1NfTy4z38avKo27″]This system failure compelled droves of customers from Korle Bu, Dansoman, Kaneshie and Achimota to mass up at the Head Office of ECG near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, in a bid to have their problems resolved.

A power outage was later established to be the cause of the system failure.

The PURC in its preliminary investigations, suggested that the ECG’s database was affected by a server power supply failure, which affected the ECG database hence making it very difficult for customers within the affected areas to purchase power.

After an earlier warning that the ECG could face sanctions, the PURC in a statement has now cited the power distributor’s inability to provide facilities for vending electricity credit to customers, and the “slow response to customers and the public.”

The PURC also said there was a “late and unsatisfactory response to related regulatory queries.”

After a probe of the matter using data submitted by the ECG, the PURC said it “arrived at the conclusion that there was a violation on the part of the ECG.”

“ECG has therefore been ordered to pay compensation to its affected customers for losses suffered as a show of good customer service. The compensation is based on the average energy lost to each customer as a result of the prepaid failure for 10 days, and does not affect the service charged or other charges,” the PURC explained further.

The ECG is expected to provide evidence of the compensation to the PURC by March 1, 2018.

Find the full PURC statement here

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post PURC orders ECG to compensate customers after prepaid troubles appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This follows a directive by the PURC to put in place measures, including the setting up of more service desks to address the recent system failure which left some customers of the company unable to buy electricity.

[contextly_sidebar id=”EsDNgfySJ27zmvukKCVCXUSKC560jQup”]Hundreds of people, some of whom had been without power for seven days, besieged the company’s premises demanding that their concerns be addressed.

The ECG explained that there were technical hitches with their servers dedicated to the pre-paid system.

About 30,000 customers in the capital Accra have been affected by the system malfunction.

Although officials of the state power company have started to issue out some of the reactivated prepaid cards,  other affected customers are unsure when they will receive their cards.

Speaking to the media, the Managing Director of ECG, Ing Samuel Boakye Appiah assured the public that the additional service will quicken the reactivation process.

“Experts were able to re-engineer the system to reduce the human intervention and therefore we are running at a higher automated system that runs faster than the previous one and we have increased the service desk from 40 to 60,” Ing Boakye explained.

The extra customer service desks have been placed at the Kaneshie district office which is within the Avenor office of the Accra West area and also at the Achimota district.

He appealed to customers within other affected areas, namely Dansoman and Korle Bu to submit their faulty cards, with their names and numbers for reactivation and return for them at the time they [customers] are given.

Ing Boakye also thanked the customers for their patience and understanding and assured them that the ECG was working feverishly to solve all the problems.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ECG increases service points to address prepaid troubles appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

PURC in a statement on Thursday said it had directed ECG to furnish it with emergency response measures put in place following the challenges; a directive that has been flouted.

[contextly_sidebar id=”lGzR0mgGp8ksO5tfjptrEkHtYWe82fDw”]The Commission in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Mami Dufie Ofori, however said the deadline for the update has been extended to December 8, 2017; failure to which ECG will suffer sanctions, including hefty fines.

“The Commission, as part of its enforcement process, also issued initial time-bound directives to the ECG to submit details of its emergency response measures carried out. The directive elapsed at 4:00pm on December 6, 2017. This has been followed up with a second directive to ECG requesting the company to show cause in respect of monetary penalties to be imposed with a response deadline of December 8, 2017, in accordance with due process,” the statement added.

PURC in the statement also noted that, it had ordered ECG to add more customer service desks “in all affected district offices to deal with the large number of customers, and inform the public of the measures being undertaken to resolve the problem.”

“This has culminated in the establishment of additional help desks at the ECG Project Office in Accra, even though this is still inadequate,” the statement added.

PURC also said it intends to “undertake a comprehensive independent investigation into ECG’s IT infrastructure to ascertain the root cause of the system failure which will inform further regulatory actions.”

Background

ECG customers in some parts of the capital have slept in darkness for almost five days because they are unable to top-up their credits, with long queues being recorded at the vending stations.

Residents of Achimota, Kaneshie, Dansoman and Korle Bu and surrounding areas,  have been most affected by the problem.

Thousands of customers also massed up at the Head Office of ECG near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, in a bid to have their problems resolved.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday over the development, the Head of Communications at ECG, William Boateng, acknowledged the problem and said their IT experts are working on addressing it.

“We had a challenge and it was Sunday evening that we got hint of some technical hitch with our server that is serving the BOT prepayment system and we are talking about Achimota district, Kaneshie district, Dansoman district and Korle bu district. We had a problem with the server, it was not responding to the data of our customers.”

Dumsor affected server, database

PURC in the statement also said its preliminary investigations suggest that the ECG’s database was affected due to “server power supply failure which affected the ECG database,” hence making it very difficult for customers within the affected areas to “purchase power.”

“On Tuesday, 6^th December 2017 at 12:00pm, the system was restored, but could serve only customers who last purchased power prior to or by 10:00pm on 15^th November 2017. This means that customers who last purchased power after 15^th November 2017 to date cannot purchase power in the usual manner.”

PURC said the data they obtained from the ECG indicates that “over 2000 customers out of a total of 300,000 on the Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) prepayment system are affected. The situation has resulted in long queues and grave inconvenience to customers.”

It further assured to “protect consumer interest in this crisis, and will update the public on any further developments.”

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post PURC threatens to sanction ECG over prepaid system errors appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.