By Joyce Kantam Kolamong
The Public Utility Regulatory Commission, PURC, has resolved about 98 percent of complaints reported to its office by consumers against the utility companies in 2023 in the Northern and Savannah regions.
The Commission received 1,581 complaints and resolved about 1,553. Of this number, the Northern Electricity Distribution Company, NEDco, had the highest number of complaints against them with thousand, 215 complaints, while Ghana Water Company Limited had 149.
The Regional Complaints Officer for Northern and Savannah regions, Abdul Wadud Ali, in an interview with GBC News in Tamale, said as of December 21 last year, the Commission had about 28 outstanding complaints at various stages of investigations to be resolved.
Some of the complaints against NEDCo were in respect of damaged property, unlawful disconnections, payment and metering issues, quality of service, and consumer service delivery among others. Complaints such as billing, metering, payment issues and quality of services were lodged against the Ghana Water Company Limited. The Regional Complaints Officer for Northern and Savannah regions, Abdul-Wadud Ali, said the Commission undertook a lot of awareness creation and opened its offices to the public for convenience. He said similarly, that complaints from the utility companies against the public were not left out.
Mr. Ali said PURC always considers a win-win situation in its quest to resolve complaints for both the consumer and the service provider.
He said the Commission embarked on a ‘Rescue Agenda’ last year, to rescue consumers and service providers since both parties experienced challenges.
