Dr Clifford Braimah, MD-GWCL
CUSTOMERS of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Sunyani Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region are being overbilled due to incorrect meter readings.
As a result, customers have challenged GWCL and the company has accepted responsibility for the anomaly.
The company complained of newly installed computers to improve efficiency which give wrong readings of figures keyed in, and that was part of the problem. According to the Sunyani District Manager, Gabriel Maayabe, about 8-10 per cent of the population is being adversely affected by overbilling.
Regional Production Manager, Hadisu Alhassan, said management had taken notice of the problem and were taking steps to rectify it. He called on customers who have noticed abnormal rise in their bills to report to GWCL office.
This came to light after a customer at Sunyani Berlingtop, Kwame Osahene, reported to DAILY GUIDE that his bill for August had ballooned from GH¢36 in July to GH¢146 in August.
Regional Production Manager, Hadisu Alhassan, attributed the problem partly on ‘dew blurring reading’ which, according to him, is normal occurrence as regards meter reading.
He explained further that because the company installed new computers to improve efficiency in their operations, the new computers, instead of working with the immediate past month consumption, rather went back to read the previous two months and billed customers accordingly.
He gave assurance that his outfit was preparing to compensate customers who had been affected by the anomaly. He appealed to consumers in the municipality who have problems with the current bills to report to the office for redress.
danielyaodayee@yahoo.com
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani