Traders and shop owners in the central business district of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region have kicked against plans by the Electricity Company of Ghana to install new prepaid metering system in their shops and offices. The ECG intends to install over 4,000 new prepaid meters in the area in a move to ensure cost-effective operations, especially in revenue collection.
The company has over the years used the conventional credit metering and billing system, which had deficiencies. The system is also fraught with ineffective monitoring of consumption and revenue collection, wrong meter reading and inefficient energy use. It is against this backdrop that the EC is deploying the new metering system .
In Kumasi, the new meters have been installed in places Asokwa, Danyame and Ahodwo among other areas. But few months after installation, some consumers complained about unfair deductions of power units under the new prepaid meters.
At a forum to educate consumers on plans to install new meters at the central business district in Kumasi, some traders and business owners kicked against the move. They told TV3 the ECG must first clear what they call unfair billing and credit deductions.
Responding, the Ashanti Regional public relations manager of ECG, Erasmus Kyere Baidoo, insists the installation exercise has been successful in other places and believes the Adum programme will be no exception.
By Benjamin Aidoo
