By Godfred A. Polkuu
Navrongo (U/E), Oct. 26, GNA – The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has engaged students of the Saint John Bosco College of Education in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region on its activities.
The Commission also solicited feedback from the students as part of its operational efficiency where officials of the Commission educated and engaged stakeholders to understand its operations and address their concerns.
Dr Ishmael Ackah, the Executive Secretary of the PURC who spoke to journalists after schooling the students and other stakeholders on their activities said the move would create a platform for the Commission to interact with several stakeholders.
He said some of the students lived in hostels while others rented apartments, and stressed the need for them to be educated on their utility consumption.
Dr Ackah said there were misconceptions among some members of the public that “PURC just sits somewhere and maybe come out with the tariffs and after that, we don’t do anything.
“Our expectations with this engagement is that they would understand the full value chain, how we even determine the tariffs and other things we do, including quality monitoring,” he said.
He said the Commission expected the students to become ambassadors of the Commission, and educate others to manage their utility usage, understand the PURC’s processes and help the Commission reform the energy sector.
Dr Ackah said consumers had contracts with the utility service providers who were to supply them with water and stable electricity.
“If you do not get that, or if you think that your light bill has gone up to a level you don’t understand, the first point of contact is the utility service provider because you have a business with them.
“When you go to the provider and you do not get the response you really desire, then you can reach out to PURC via phone calls, WhatsApp or visit our offices in almost all the Regions in Ghana,” he said.
He said when the Commission received such complains, it invited the complainant and the utility provider to settle the issue, “If we don’t reach an agreement, we go beyond that to mediation. We try to see how we can investigate.
“If it is a metre issue, we have a laboratory where we use machines to test. And if there is still no agreement, we elevate it to what we call Formal Hearing.
“That one, we appoint external and independent experts to sit on the case and make recommendation to the PURC Board, and their decision can only be challenged by a High Court,” Dr Ackah explained.
He said the PURC equally received complaints from the utility service providers which ranged from non-payment of bills, especially among State institutions and illegal connections, burnt electricity poles owing to bushfires among others.
He urged members of the public to desist from illegal connections, and said if for any reason customers had accumulated bills, they could arrange with the service providers to spread the bills for them to pay gradually instead of engaging in illegal connections.
“So my appeal to consumers is that we should all pay, we should not wait. If you have challenges, reach out to the service providers, get a payment plan and pay gradually,” the Executive Secretary said.
Some students in interviews with the Ghana News Agency, after the programme, commended management of the PURC for the initiative to engage them to understand its operations, which they said would help them to use power on campus wisely.
GNA