PURC Hosts Inaugural Regulatory Centre Program in Wa with Media and Stakeholders

The Upper West Regional office of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) on May 16, 2024 held its maiden Regulatory Centre program with selected journalists, Barbers Association and Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association.

Also present at the program was the Energy Commission, Ghana Water Limited (GWL) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo).

The Regulatory Centre program forms part of efforts by the PURC to equip the media with the needed information and to understand the operations of the Commission and the various utility service providers.

The Energy Commission, GWL and NEDCo all made presentations on their operations and operational challenges to the media and the stakeholders at the meeting.

Mr Abdul-Wadud Ali, the Upper West Regional Manager of the PURC, stated that the PURC has observed a wide gap between regulated utility service providers, the regulator and the media in the region, hence the Regulatory Centre program.

 “And friends from the media, you are very important to our work. If you understand this, you can better help and educate the people. So, if we don’t bring you on board to understand the work that we do, we may be doing a lot, but it will still stay in our offices because there will be no voice to carry it out there.”

“So many people send their complaints to the media. If they do not have the crux of the issue, reporting on them, we may think that they are not fair to us, but have we also availed ourselves and given them the needed information?” he added.

Mr Ali mentioned that Ghana Water Limited, Upper West Region, topped in the best quality water in the PURC’s Ghana Utility Performance Index 2021.

Mr. Patrick Ntow Yeboah, the Upper West Regional Distribution Manager of GWL, stated that nonpayment of bills is a challenge to their operation in the region.

"We have limited distribution lines and need funds to expand. However, if the funds are not available, we can't expand because the limited funds we have are what we are using for our operations," he added.

A representative of the Energy Commission in the Upper West region, Mr. Bayaa Batiera Cyril, expressed concern about the use of substandard electrical materials in the region.

"I think about 99.5 percent of the electrical materials in this region are substandard."

He called for collaboration between the PURC and the Ghana Standard Authority to clean the system of substandard electrical materials.

Mr Aliu Abubakari, Customer Service Officer for NEDCo mentioned power theft and delay in the settlement of bills by customers as major challenges of the company in the Upper West Region.

“Of late, there are scammers too in the system and this one is a very big problem for us. Somebody has applied for power, then all of a sudden only, God knows where they get the numbers, they can call the customer and then tell the customer they have applied for power at VRA, your letter is ready, and pay this amount so that I can come and fix your meter,” he stated.

He noted that VRA does not operate MOMO numbers as a company and appealed to the media to intensify education on the issue to curb it.