B5 Plus Steel company settles GH₵20m out of GH₵42m debt owed ECG

The biggest steel-producing company in West Africa, B5 Plus Company Limited at Tema has saved its operations after managers of the facility coughed up GH₵20 million to settle part of its GH₵42 million debt owed the Electricity Company of Ghana.

The ECG revenue mobilization task force led by the Manager of External Communications, Laila Abubakari, declined an earlier arrangement by managers of B5 Plus to pay the GHc20 million on an instalment basis.

According to Laila Abubakari, despite citing current economic challenges and the exchange rate as their challenges for failure to pay their bills, ECG is equally facing similar issues hence the decision to embark on a one-month revenue mobilization exercise to recoup part of the company’s debts.

The Electricity Company of Ghana has disconnected several customers as it embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise which began on Monday, March 20, 2023.

In the Volta and Oti Regions, ECG officials visited customers like Volta Serene, Abutia Stone Quarry, UHAS, and HTU who owed electricity bills.

The company disconnected KFC for owing GH¢68,000, Ho Airport for owing GH¢63,000, GRA Office for owing GH¢55,000, CEPS training academy for owing GH¢80,000 and Ho Technical University for owing GH¢402,000.

However, Ho technical university paid GH¢200,000 after crunch talks with the ECG and has been told to settle the arrears by end of March 2023.

The exercise also saw some companies make payments like the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) which paid GH¢1 million out of GH¢1.4million.

The company is set to visit Ho teaching hospital, and the National Communications Authority among others to retrieve about GH¢5 million within the Ho Municipality.