The Northern Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCo) has cut power supply to the Dr. Hila Limann Technical University (DHLTU), the Wa Nursing Training College (NTC), and the Wa High Court for their indebtedness to the company.
The DHLTU owed the NEDCo about GH₵2.2 million, the Wa NTC owed about GH₵26,000.00, while the Wa High Court owed about GH₵15,000.00.
Mr Francis Yormesor, the Wa Area Manager of the NEDCo, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the disconnection was to compel those institutions to pay the monies they owed the NEDCo as part of its revenue mobilisation exercise.
He said they were engaging the three affected institutions for them to pay some substantial amount of their debt and a roadmap reached for the payment of the balance before they would be reconnected.
Other institutions visited were the Wa Naa’s Palace, which owed the NEDCo about GH₵61,000.00, the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) which owed about GH₵366,000.00, the Nusrat Jahan College of Education which also owed about GH₵550, 000.00 and the SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) which also owed about GHC8.8million.
Mr Yormesor said those institutions were not disconnected because they had indicated their intentions to settle their debts and failure to do so would also compel them to be disconnected.
“We are urging all our clients to make available monies that they owe so that with that there will not be the need for disconnection.
As indicated, this is a revenue mobilisation exercise, but not a disconnection exercise”, he explained.
The NEDCO began its month-long revenue mobilization exercise on Wednesday, April 18, 2023, to collect the GH₵1.2 billion outstanding debts owed to the company by its customers.
Mr Yormesor said his outfit had so far collected GH₵1,293,737.28 of its debts within the first two days of the exercise in the Wa Operation Area, which comprised the Upper West Region and the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Districts in the Savannah Region.
He explained that the NEDCo required about GH₵120 million monthly to make power available to its customers, but that they were able to collect GH₵85million monthly with a deficit of about GH₵35million.
He said government agencies and departments, including the Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West Region, owed a chunk of the debt – about GH₵82million of the GH₵107million.
“All the Districts within the Wa Area, we are going after them to collect our revenue, most of them are being disconnected as I speak,” he intimated.
He indicated that hospital administrations that owed the NEDCo would also be disconnected with the exception of the hospital wards due to the critical services they provided.
Mr Yormesor explained that they were in talks with the hospital authorities, including the Upper West Regional Hospital, to settle their debts to avoid being disconnected.
He appealed to customers to settle their debts with the NEDCo to enable the company to provide them with quality service.