The Northern Regional Office of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has introduced an initiative christened: Regulatory School to extensively engage the media among key stakeholders in the Northern Region as part of efforts to educate the populace about the commission’s mandate and other regulated utility issues in the region.
The initiative is pursuant to the commission’s mandate under Section 3 of the PURC Act, 1997 (Act 538) which seeks to protect the interest of consumers and providers of the utility services in the country.
The maiden edition held on Monday, August 14, 2023, at the commission’s head office in Tamale offered an opportunity for officials of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and the Ghana Water Limited (GWL) to make presentations on their mandate and core areas of operations and the challenges therein.
On the part of NEDCo, the selected participants were educated on the processes involved in acquiring new service in residential and non-residential areas, service transfers and operational issues such as power outages among others.
The Ghana Water Limited also highlighted the unwillingness of clients not to pay their water bills, interference of Chiefs, Religious and Opinion leaders and Politicians, illegal connections and meter bypasses, destruction of pipelines by contractors, stealing of stop cocks and water meters among other key issues as major operational challenges impeding their work in the region.
The two institutions also responded to questions bothering on critical issues as far as quality service and customer service relations are concerned.
The PURC Northern Regional Manager, Mr. Edward Boduah Kingstony in an exclusive interview explained the rationale for the novel program is to improve the relationship between the media and utility service providers.
“In our current dispensation, the media plays a very important role with the dissemination of information to a greater number people or consumers in the region” he argues.
He however observed that the utility service providers have not done enough over the years to engage the media as far as their operations are concerned, stating the journalists only comes on board when there are issues and in his view this practice is not the best.
Mr. Boduah maintained that the media have to be well equipped with information in order to educate their audience on the real issues.
The Manager further stated that the Regulatory School will not be limited to only the media but corporate organizations in the region would be engaged in subsequent meetings.
Rescue Agenda
Mr. Edward Boduah commenting on the Rescue Agenda of the commission to salvage the utility service providers from their current revenue shortfalls indicated the Regulatory School will expose the stakeholders with regards to the challenges the two organizations are going through.
“It is also going to bring these stakeholders on board so that anytime the utility service providers indicate that they are doing revenue mobilization, the stakeholders will appreciate what they are doing – because we have people who even believe they shouldn’t pay light or water bills because it belongs to the government” he added.
He emphasized the energy generation process in Ghana is no longer about the hydro power generation from the Akosombo dam but other Independent Power Producers investing in the value-chain of the electricity sector which has to be paid for at the end of the day.
