The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has reconnected power to the Keta Municipal Health Directorate.
This follows an initial disconnection exercise carried out on the facility on Wednesday due to its indebtedness to the power distributor.
The disconnection sparked fears that vaccines being held in a storage facility at the health directorate risked losing their efficacy after sometime.
However, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of ECG in the Volta Region, Benjamin Obeng Antwi, speaking with reporters had indicated that the vaccines were not stored in a room or at a facility, but was in movable refrigerator and that the company had not disconnected the Keta Municipal Hospital, despite its indebtedness of over GH¢420,000 or any facility called Keta Vaccine Storage Centre.
He explained, “We visited the Keta Municipal Health Directorate which is about 4km away from the Keta Municipal Hospital on Monday to have some engagements with them regarding the debts. They owe us about GH¢24,000 and the last time they made payments was in 2021. Our team, after engaging them on their debt, decided to carry out a disconnection exercise on Monday but realised there was a movable fridge containing vaccines and told them to move the fridge containing the vaccines to the next place which was not part of the metre that owe GH¢24,000. They agreed but the next day (Tuesday), when our team returned, the situation remained the same as they had not moved the fridge. We kept appealing to them to do the needful, but they didn’t heed to our advice. Unfortunately, the disconnection happened on Wednesday.”
According to The ECG Regional PRO, Mr Benjamin Obeng Antwi, “as a company we don’t take delight in disconnecting customers as that is mostly the last resort in order to prevent the customer from accruing more debt, and to enable the company gather more revenue to keep the electricity supply chain running.”
He stressed, “hospitals in the region owe GH¢8.9 million, it’s a sensitive area, and we cannot disconnect their power, some have been owing us for two to three years. We engaged all hospitals’ administrators on a roadmap for payments. So as we speak, the Keta health directorate has been reconnected since the morning of Friday.”
The Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Kwasi Djokoto, assured that all the vaccines were intact, and that there was no cause for alarm as power was restored to the health directorate by the ECG at the right time.
He added that the engagements with the ECG so far had been fruitful and there was a clear roadmap for both parties to work together
Among the institutions that ECG recovered the monies from were Ho Technical University, Immigration Service, Volta Serene Hotel, KFC, University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho Nursing Training College, Melcom, Sogakokpe Beach Resort and some households.
The ECG on Monday March 20, 2023, commenced a one month nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise to recover about GH¢5.7 billion owed them by their customers, out of which customers in the Volta Region owe GH¢220 million.
The power distribution company has cut power supply to institutions and businesses that failed to settle their electricity bills.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI