Two significant hospitals in Ho have received a disconnection notice from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) due to unpaid bills.
Ho Teaching and Ho Municipal Hospitals have been given six working days to pay their debts or risk losing access to the national power grid on April 3, 2023.
According to the ECG, the hospitals owe a total of GH¢1,875,300.18 in accruals dating from 2021 to the present, with Ho Teaching Hospital owing GH¢1,459,926.23 and Ho Municipal Hospital owing GH¢415,373.95.
According to PURC Regulations LI 2413,37, sub-regulation (2), the ECG served written notices of disconnection to the hospitals at least three working days before disconnecting the service.
To avoid disconnection, the disconnection notice urges hospitals to settle their arrears within six working days.
Ing. Michael Buabin, Acting General Manager of ECG in the Volta Region, stated that “disconnection is usually a last resort in order to prevent customers from accruing more debt and to enable the company to collect more revenue to keep the electricity supply chain running.”
He also stated that ECG “does not take pleasure in disconnecting customers” and urged all customers to make paying their electricity bills a top priority.
These are sensitive facilities that require power to function, and ECG claims it has engaged with them on several occasions to allow them to settle their arrears before issuing the disconnection notice.
Ing. Buabeng added that “ECG is hoping for a positive response from the hospitals to prevent any form of disconnection. Failure to meet ECG’s target could affect the electricity supply chain and the economy through the unavailability of power”.
ECG has launched a one-month nationwide campaign to recover approximately 5.7 billion Cedis from its debtors, with approximately 220 million Cedis in the Volta Region.