{"id":220277,"date":"2016-06-06T19:10:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T19:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=220277"},"modified":"2016-06-06T19:10:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T19:10:59","slug":"puwu-warns-purc-over-suspension-of-ecgs-billing-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/06\/puwu-warns-purc-over-suspension-of-ecgs-billing-software\/","title":{"rendered":"PUWU warns PURC over suspension of ECG&#8217;s billing software"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU), has given the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) seven days to withdraw its directive to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to suspend its new billing software.<\/p>\n<p>PUWU has threatened a strike by front-line staff and field workers of the ECG, if the PURC disregards\u00a0their ultimatum.<\/p>\n<p>The PURC last month instructed the ECG to <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/05\/24\/suspend-problematic-billing-software-purc-to-ecg\/\">suspend the implementation<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of its new billing software following complaints from consumers about extreme increases in their bills for the same consumption.<\/p>\n<p>This was explained as\u00a0an anomaly in the initial implementation of the billing software following investigations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Directive &#8216;calculated to cause public disaffection&#8217; towards the ECG<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;m9eU0RpRSBETinWJxtRI3cOdmCQAnoLE&#8221;]But the unionized workers contend that the PURC\u2019s lack of consultation with ECG management over the directive, has resulted in undue public outrage towards workers.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing members of the media in Accra today [Monday], the General Secretary of PUWU, Ato Kwamena Bondzie-Quaye, said \u201cIt is important to state that the PURC failed and\/or refused to discuss its findings with ECG management before issuing the said directive.\u00a0The workers consider this act of PURC as very unfortunate and by inference calculated to cause public disaffection towards the company.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Accordingly, the workers have decided that PURC as matter of urgency should retract the directive within seven working days with effect from today [Monday, June 6],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>He revealed that some workers of the ECG have been exposed to physical harm owing to the perception created by the PURC\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result of this, workers of ECG have been exposed to several acts of intimidation, abuse, threats and some instances, physical assault.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>No support from ECG management<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bondzie-Quaye also lamented the lack of support from management of the ECG, since they have not\u00a0issued any formal statement in defense of the\u00a0workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegrettably, more than one week after this directive, management has not explicitly issued any formal public statement to debunk or explain the said directive of PURC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nothing wrong with billing software<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Union ECG, has insisted that there is nothing wrong with the new billing software.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0representative of the ECG Senior Staff Association, Samuel Martey, said the challenges with the billing are as a result of some other tariffs that consumers are paying, and in other cases, misreading of meters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main issue is that, people think they are being over-billed and we want to tell you that it is not true unless maybe you rmeter has been over-read.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also noted that, the 25 percent subsidy that had been removed from the tariffs contributed to the bills that Ghanaians are paying in addition to the PURC approved tariffs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blame high taxes for increased ECG bills, not ECG\u00a0software &#8211; MP<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile some minority MPs on the Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, have <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/06\/02\/minority-mps-blame-high-taxes-for-increased-ecg-bills\/\">blamed high taxes <\/a><\/strong><\/span>and levies for the astronomical\u00a0increases\u00a0consumers are experiencing in their electricity bills.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <strong>Citi Business News<\/strong> in an interview, a member of the Mines and Energy Committee, Mr. Joseph Cudjoe, maintained that from the committee\u2019s interaction with the ECG and PURC, high taxes and levies accounted for the astronomical increases being witnessed recently.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Cudjoe cited for example that, the street light levy which used to be one pesewa per unit shot up to 84 pesewas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU), has given the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) seven days to withdraw its directive to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to suspend its new billing software. PUWU has threatened a strike by front-line staff and field workers of the ECG, if the PURC disregards\u00a0their ultimatum. The PURC last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":216750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>PUWU warns PURC over suspension of ECG&#039;s billing software - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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