After a dispute between consumers and the Electricity Firm of Ghana (ECG) was resolved, the company announced that around 50,000 customers will be switched from postpaid to pre-paid metering in the Krobo region.
About 500 prepaid metres had already been set up in the region as of last Tuesday.
The Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Simon Kweku Tetteh, told the Daily Graphic on the second day of the installation exercise: "All issues pertaining to the ECG/Krobo customers are being handled and, therefore, everybody should cooperate so that everybody would migrate from postpaid to prepaid in their own interest because the power is needed for their economic activities.
According to Mr. Tetteh, the company's continuous installation of prepaid metres in the Krobo District is a national initiative that the populace should support.
In order to ensure a smooth execution of the exercise in their own interests, he asked all customers to work with the ECG. He said that all concerns connected to the standoff between the ECG and the residents of the Krobo region of the Eastern Region were being handled.
Poised
"Let me inform the customers in the Krobo District that per our regulations and the agreement reached so far with the necessary stakeholders, including the leadership of the various unions, chiefs, and opinion leaders, among others, we are poised to install," said Sakyiwaa Mensah, the ECG's public relations officer for the Tema Region.
If they want to utilise power for their everyday activities, we will make sure that all of our clients are covered by prepaid metres. The PRO issued a warning, saying that if any one client hinders the team from installing, it will be the consumer's responsibility to contact ECG later for installation, which will be too late and will need some financial commitment from the customer.
She told the journalists last Wednesday at the business's Nuaso headquarters in the Krobo District that the company has increased the size of its technical staff to speed up the installation of the prepaid metres.
Electrical engineers, 139
She stated that 50 electrical engineers from the 49 Field Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), who are partnered with the business's contractors, and 90 electrical engineers from the company across the nation were now on the field for the installation exercise.
When asked by the media how long it would take the team to complete the task, she said that it depended on the customers' cooperation but swiftly added that "the team is not experiencing any issue" because "the exercise has been implemented smoothly since it started on Tuesday."
She explained that the business has a long-standing connection with the Ghanaian Armed Forces going back more than 20 years, and it was important to request help as specialists in the electrical industry, which is why the GAF technical men were hired for the project.
"Let me state unequivocally that the deployment of certain technical men from the Ghana Armed Forces is not intended to intimidate or abuse any customer for the installation per se; rather, we need reinforcement to speed up the process due to the large number of consumers in the Krobo District.
amiable company
Despite the little challenges we have been facing in the Krobo District for a while now, which are virtually resolved with the ongoing installation exercise, the firm is amicable with its consumers, and we shall not create any situations that would tarnish our cordial connection, she said.