By Maxwell Awumah
Ho, May 19, GNA – Mr Michael Buabin, acting General Manager of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Volta Region, says the company’s cashless system of transactions introduced recently has been enrolled in the Volta and Oti regions.
He said presently, no ECG office accepts cash during transactions such as payment of bills or purchasing of prepaid credit.
“Customers with smart phones can access this cashless system by downloading the ECG PowerApp from Google play store or App store and follow the prompts to pay their postpaid bills or purchase prepaid credit for smart meters,” Mr Buabin noted.
The system announced by the Company on May 11, is being rolled out across all 11 districts of the two regions, namely; Denu, Keta, Sogakope, Akatsi, Ho, Kpeve, Hohoe, Kpando, Jasikan, Nkwanta and Dambai.
Mr Buabin addressing the media noted that following the enhancement of the ECG PowerApp, customers could now do cashless business with ECG anywhere and anytime.
He noted that customers without smart phones could dial *226# to access the cashless system for all transactions.
Mr Buabin said the system was part of efforts to digitalise the company’s operations to make it efficient and also provide convenience for customers.
“Our customers are always at the heart of everything we do since without them we are not in business so we will keep enhancing our operations to provide convenience for them and enable them access our services with ease.”
He said prior to the introduction of the system, customers had to travel from far places to transact business with the company, which caused some inconveniences to them looking at the cost of transportation and the risk involved.
He said with the introduction of the system, the inconvenience caused had been reduced as customers could sit in the comfort of their homes and transact real time business with ECG.
Mr Buabin noted that with postpaid meters, customers needed to add their account numbers after logging onto the app, but with prepaid meters, the system required meter number of customers.
He advised customers to be vigilant and confirm their details when they added the meter or account numbers to ensure their details were correct before clicking the “THIS IS CORRECT” button on the app.
Mr Buabin said they must also do so before making payment to ensure payment of bills was done for the right account.
He said customers who intended to pay their bills or purchase prepaid with cheque could also do same via the app by generating a cheque pay-in slip number and make payment at any bank.
He announced that customers who still wished to visit ECG offices to pay their bills or buy prepaid should load the money on their mobile money wallet before going to the offices.
Mr Buabin said third party prepaid vendors would still sell prepaid to customers who visit them as they have always been doing.
He revealed that the region was embarking on an intensive campaign to sensitize customers on how to use the system and its benefits.
“We have adopted strategies to ensure our customers understand what is happening, know how to use the app and the shortcode and also the benefits of this system.
“We have done jingles which will be played on radio stations, we have caused announcements, commenced radio education, town hall meetings and stakeholder engagements to ensure all our customers are well informed.”
He assured customers that the company would continue to provide convenience for customers and urged them to visit the nearest office or contact ECG via 0302611611 for further assistance.
Mr Buabin appealed to customers to pay their bills promptly since the company was still on its revenue mobilization exercise after the national exercise ended on 20th April 2023.
Madam Cynthia Amu, a nurse at the Ho Teaching Hospital and a resident of Ho Power House, expressed her satisfaction with the progress of work by ECG to enhance this App.
“I have been using the App for more than a year after my old meter was replaced with the smart prepaid meter.”
She said the App was unstable initially as it took days before credit purchased reflected but had been stable for the past month.
Mr James Adjei, a fridge repairer at Breweniase in the Nkwanta District of ECG indicated that prior to the system, he had to close his shop and travel from Breweniase to Nkwanta to pay his bills, which was stressful since the bill collector was not coming around frequently.
He said during a community engagement in January this year with ECG on preventing bushfires, he got to know of the shortcode *226# and had since paid his bills without travelling.
GNA