B5 Plus Company Limited, the biggest steel-producing company in West Africa, at Tema has averted the possibility of its operations being shut down after its managers coughed up GHC20 million to settle part of its GH₵42 million debt owed the Electricity Company of Ghana.
The ECG revenue mobilization task force led by the Manager of External Communications, Laila Abubakari, declined an earlier arrangement by managers of B5 Plus to pay the GHc20 million on an instalment basis.
According to Laila Abubakari, despite citing current economic challenges and the exchange rate as its challenges for failure to pay bills, ECG is equally facing similar issues, hence, the decision to embark on a one-month revenue mobilization exercise to recoup part of the company’s debts.
“The ECG understands these concerns, but the fact of the matter is that we are also a company who need these monies to pay our bills. In any case, this is a power that they have already consumed to produce their materials, most of which they have already exported out of the country.”
Laila Abubakari
Laila Abubakari stated that the team “had to generate an invoice for them this time around to make sure that they pay.”
“So, we instructed them to go straight to the bank and make the payment right away, and we will receive the alert on our phones. If by the time we return from our other rounds and they do not pay, we will be compelled to take them off.”
Laila Abubakari
Currently, the Electricity Company of Ghana has disconnected several customers as it embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilization exercise which began on Monday, March 20, 2023.
In the Volta and Oti Regions, ECG officials visited customers like Volta Serene, Abutia Stone Quarry, UHAS, and HTU who owed electricity bills. The company disconnected KFC for owing GHC68,000, Ho Airport for owing GHC63,000, GRA Office for owing GHC55,000, CEPS training academy for owing GHC80,000 and Ho Technical University for owing GHC402,000.
However, Ho technical university paid GHC200,000 after crunch talks with the ECG and has been told to settle the arrears by end of March 2023.
The exercise also saw some companies make payments like the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) which paid GHC1 million out of GHC1.4 million. The ECG is set to visit Ho teaching hospital, and the National Communications Authority among others to retrieve about GH¢5 million within the Ho Municipality.
Fabrimetal Manufacturing company taken off national grid
Meanwhile, Fabrimetal manufacturing company has been taken off the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The large-scale iron steel manufacturing company owed the power distribution company GHC28 million in electricity bill debt over a five-month period.
The ECG taskforce team revealed that the disconnection has become necessary because the company has refused to make any payment.
Prior to this, Parliament has been compelled to make part payment of its indebtedness to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The House paid GHC8.5 million out of GHC13 million owed the power distributor to avert disconnection from the national grid.
Currently, the ECG has commenced a series of activities in a bid to recover over GHC5 billion of debt owed by both private and state institutions. The amount accrued due to non-payment by these entities since August last year.
The exercise began on Monday March 20, 2023, after ECG announced the closure of its main offices except customer support departments, in order to embark on a one-month-long exercise.
All ECG staff, from top management to junior officers, will be used to retrieve all the monies owed the company.
Following this, the Managing Director of ECG, Mr Dubik Mahama has toured all the operational regions of ECG to sensitize the staff on how to go about the mobilization of the revenue. He said they should respect the customer at all times.
Mr Mahama also reminded the staff that ECG is a business and not a charity, thus, they must all start behaving as business-minded people. It is expected that at the end of the exercise, 100% of the debt owed ECG would be recovered.
