The National Private Electricity Vendors Association has called on the Management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to rescind a decision to increase the minimum quota per day purchase per meter from GH¢5,000 to GH¢20,000.
According to the Association, the directive will collapse the operations of many vendors and result in customers having to trek far from their areas to purchase credits for their meters.
This, it warned, may lead to customers tampering with their meters because of their inability to buy credits close to home.
The ECG, in a letter dated 6th February 2023, issued a notice of the decision and said it is to reduce the volume of daily transactions and quicken the processing of quota purchased by individual vendors.
The Vendors Association has, however, kicked against it and warned the ramifications could be dire as it could push customers into power theft and cause serious upheaval in the vendors’ milieu.
According to the Association, the introduction of the quota system was discussed with the then Customer Service Director last December during which it suggested the form the system should take, which is contrary to what the ECG is implementing today.
The Association appealed to the ECG to maintain the existing quota of GH¢5,000 and outlined a number of reasons for the call.
It argued that even with the current minimum level some vendors have stopped operating in their localities simply because they are finding it difficult to raise enough capital for their operations, and pay for rented shops, utilities and cashiers they have employed.
The Association said, “Bank of Ghana has directed the Telecos to limit their customers’ transactions to only GH¢15,000.00. So raising your requirement to GH¢20,000.00 will be in contravention to Bank of Ghana’s directives and obviously pose a great challenge to Vendors loading their wallets.”
“Some Vendors are also operating more than one meter systems because of their locations, either on boundary with other meters installations or ECG Districts borders.”
“Vendors who have now dropped out or may drop out effective 1st March 2023 will definitely inconvenience ECG customers within their localities because they will then have to travel to other areas to purchase credits for their meters.”
“Stemming from the above point, this may result in some customers tampering with their meters because of their inability to buy credits for their meters from their neighbourhood, which is likely to result in loss of revenue to ECG in the final analysis.”
The Association argued that not all Vendors will have the capacity to obtain enough funds to cope and operate with the new minimum quota purchase especially when they are operating more than one meter systems.
It stressed that vendors sacrificing to stand in for ECG during odd hours when the latter is not operating will have harsh consequences on customers countrywide because the majority may not have the required amount being requested to operate anymore.
It warned the possibility of compounding unemployment in the country will also be very great as it will compel vendors to employ less than two cashiers for their operations.
The Association urged the ECG to be mindful of the fact that every negative happening in the country is always attributed to the government and warned of the backlash of inconveniencing customers during these difficult times.