ECG gives Kejetia Market a September 16 ultimatum to settle debt
On August 18, 2024, 6:00 AM
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has given the managers of the Kumasi City Market also known as the Kejetia Market up to September 16, 2024, to settle all outstanding debt.
This comes after the company restored power to the facility following a two-day disconnection over a GH¢7 million debt.
The reconnection followed a payment of part of the debt and a presentation of a payment plan for the remaining amount to ECG.
This marked the second time this year that the Kejetia market presented a payment plan to ECG after being cut off from the national grid due to unpaid arrears.
In April, the market experienced a similar outage, which was resolved after the management committed to clearing the debt.
According to ECG, despite assurances from the market’s management to settle arrears, payments were not made as promised.
Public Relations Officer for ECG-Ashanti West, Benjamin Obeng Antwi, said this time, the market management is expected to be consistent in the scheduled payments in the coming weeks.
“By August 30 if they pay GH₵200,000 we will expect them to pay another GH₵273,000 by September 6. On 10th September, we will expect another payment which is the legacy debt. The payment plan includes the May and June bills and the debt. They are supposed to finish paying by 16th September with the exception of the July bill,” he said.
He also explained why the proposed agreement to provide individual meters for thousands of shops in the market stalled.
“A year or two ago we had a stakeholder meeting with them to ensure we give each shop a separate meter. And when we did the engineering checks, we realised they must separate the shops from the bulk meter.
“We also advised them to separate the generator from the meter else when they switch it on, that will also read into the main meter. We engaged them and gave them that advice. We were expecting feedback but we never heard from them and that stalled the project,” he added.
