PURC Orders ECG To Compensate Customers Over Vending Challenges

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has instructed the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) to compensate its customers for their inability to buy prepaid credit through the company’s vending platforms.

In what the Commission described as a widespread system failure, it ordered the power distribution company to compensate customers with amounts ranging between 10 and 100 penalty units, the equivalent of GHC 15 and GHC 1,200, respectively, depending on the category of customer.

According to the commission, the system failure of the ECG constitutes a breach of sections 11, 12(1) and 12 (2) of the Public Utilities Act 1997 (Act 538) and Regulations 41 and 45 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (Consumer Service) Regulations, 2022 (LI 2413).

It noted that the compensation will be in the form of a one-time electricity credit between October 1st and October 7th.

Thousands of ECG customers in the Greater Accra, Volta, Ashanti, Western, Central, and Eastern Regions have been unable to purchase prepaid credit since September 26th. The company has maintained the issue relates to an IT server downturn.

But then, grapevine reports suggested that the challenge was orchestrated by some employees in the company’s IT department as a sabotage to recent controls implemented by the Managing Director, Samuel Dubik Mahama.

However, this allegation has been refuted by the General Manager for External Relations of the company, Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku, whose outfit has severally issued apologies to the public for the technical lapse.