Corporate communications manager at Northern Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCo), Maxwell Kotoka, has revealed that his outfit will undertake its revenue collection drive to retrieve monies to the tune of GHC1.1 billion in perpetuity.
As part of NEDCo’s revenue mobilization drive in the northern sector, he stated that the decision to undertake the exercise is ad infinitum, is as a result of the tendency of some persons to take advantage of the situation to carry out unscrupulous activities which might not bode well for NEDCo.
“It is in perpetuity because we are unable to say that it is for three days or four days or one month – so that if somebody is involved in an illegality, he will suspend it for that period and once it is over, he gets back to it. For all the hands on deck, it may go beyond one month but beyond that, we will put measures in place to ensure that it’s an exercise in perpetuity.”
Maxwell Kotoka
NEDCo embarks on revenue mobilization drive
Mr Kotoka indicated that the exercise being carried out by NEDCo is a crucial one and that it is the only activity or measure that can save NEDCo from an imminent collapse. He explained that as it stands, his outfit has in excess of GHC1.1 billion in receivables.
“We also would have to go back and buy the power, pay for it, pay the transmitter to bring the power before we can make it available for our customers on a sustainable basis. This can only happen when we collect the money. At this rate, we should have been doing this exercise yesterday so we are already late – it cannot be beyond today. For that reason, it’s going to be a corporate wide exercise that is occurring simultaneously in all the operational areas – from Sunyani, all the way to Upper East and Upper West. It entails the collection of bills as well as monitoring to check for illegal connections and unauthorized interferences in the network as well.”
Maxwell Kotoka
Commenting on whether NEDCo took the decision to embark on the mobilization drive due to incidents such as illegal connection being rife in the northern sector, the corporate communications manager at NEDCo stated the illegal connection has posed one of the greatest problems of the Company. Due to this, he expressed that it has resolved to holistically address the problem.
“Well, it is a veritable bane of our operation. If you buy let’s say 100 units worth of power, and there are some of these areas, debts will lead to commercial losses as high as 40%, and in some cases, even more… It is not the case in every area, but there are some peculiar areas that they happen, and the idea is to clean every nook and cranny.”
Maxwell Kotoka
Subsequently, Mr Kotoka cautioned staff of NEDCo who may be engaging in illegal connections for customers. To this, he stated that the Company will not hesitate in dealing with the perpetrators when caught.
“I shudder at nothing to assure you that if we find anybody [we will deal with him].”
Maxwell Kotoka
In recent times institutions such as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has embarked on revenue mobilization drive to recover millions of debts owed by both individuals and institutions. The exercise is using almost all ECG staff, from top management to junior officers to retrieve all the monies owed them.
According to the Managing Director, Mr Samuel Dubik Mahama Esq., the company is owed over GHC5 billion from the month of September 2022 to February 2023 and that most of the debt resides with the SOEs and MDAs.
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