The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission has taken its 2022 consumer service clinic to Koforidua in the Eastern Region. This initiative is part of activities lined up for the celebration of its 25th Anniversary.
The chairman for the occasion Nana Twumasi Danquah, Gyaasehene of the New Juaben Traditional Council, took time to underscore the importance of power and water to the livelihood of people and its impact on the general economy. He called on workers of both utilities to up their game particularly in the area of their complaint’s resolution and the resolution of technical challenges in Koforidua and its environs.
Mr Emmanuel Fiati, the Director Water Services and performance Monitoring at PURC gave a welcome address on behalf of the Executive Secretary of PURC. He indicated that, the Commission took notice of the complaints of consumer’s during the nation-wide public hearings on tariff proposals hence the introduction of a nation-wide consumer clinics to create a platform for consumers, the economic regulator and utilities to provide solution to complaints from consumers.
He also noted that, 70% of the complaints during the nationwide public engagement’s bordered on quality-of-service i.e., unplanned outages, low voltages, burst pipes and cable cuts.
He took the opportunity to call on consumers to make use of the consumer service clinic to help resolve their complaints and not to hesitate in reaching out to the Commission to still resolve their complaints.
The Director, Regional Operations of PURC took time to walk consumers and utility service providers through the Commission’s recently launched Tariff Reckoner and called on them to make good use of the software in calculating their consumption and rates in order to avoid complaints relating to under billing and over billing.
The Commission also took the opportunity to do a presentation to consumers on the Commission’s complaint resolution procedure
The occasion brought together stakeholders from utility service providers within the eastern region, including security service personnel, market women, chiefs, hairdressers, barbers, beauticians, tailors, the clergy, staff of Koforidua technical university, reps from GPRTU, reps from All Nation’s University, GNAT, Ghana Hoteliers associations among others.