The Electricity company of Ghana has introduced a mobile app called ECG Power, that will allow about 2.8 million out of the 3.8 million customers of the power distributor to buy power at their own convenience.
Per the features of the ECG Power mobile app, customers can make purchases via the various payment platforms provided by telcos such as MTN’s mobile money, Vodafone cash as well as AirtelTigo cash.
Whereas smart phone users can access the app by downloading it from the google playstore or app store, other phone users could resort to dialing a short code which helps them to access the services.
Currently, while all postpaid customers can buy power with the app, only customers with the smart prepaid meters can access the service.
Speaking at the launch of the app in Accra, Vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, instructed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to use the ECG Power app to improve its collection rate to help turn boost the fortunes of the energy sector.
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“If you don’t really handle this sector well, it can really create a lot of problems for your economy because in this sector, we are talking of hundreds of millions of dollars in bills. And one of the biggest problems why this has become an Achilles hill in the whole sector is the area of collection of revenue,” he asserted.
“So if we produce power and we are only able to collect say 60 percent of the revenue, then it means we have lost forty percent of the revenue so you are going to have companies like the VRA, GRIDCo and the rest in trouble. So the issue of solving the collection problem at ECG is a major part of solving the energy issue in Ghana.” Dr. Bawumia charged
