The exercise would involve Data Collection from all categories of customers, both prepaid and postpaid meter users, Mrs Theresa Osabutey, the ECG Public Relations Manager, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Tuesday.

She said the exercise was to help the utility service provider ascertain the whereabouts and the current status of its meters.  She said customers are expected to furnish the deployed Data Collectors with details such as their names, telephone numbers, addresses and email addresses, as well as other relevant information, to enable ECG send information directly to them on a regular basis.

Mrs Osabutey said ECG previously embarked on such exercise but only focused on some operational regions and districts, however, this year’s exercise was expected to cover every operational area of the company.

The ECG Data Collection, she said, was being undertaken concurrently within “our exceptional zone of Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Central, and Western regions with the exception of the northern zone, which operates under the different power supply”.

Mrs Osabutey advised customers to inspect the credentials of the officials before giving them the information and also urged the ECG Data Collectors to always introduce themselves before soliciting for the information.

Mr Isaac Nurris Ainooson, the ECG Accra East Region Public Relations Officer, told the GNA that customers stand to benefit from the exercise as “it will enable ECG officials issue bill alerts to customers and communicate any other form of information that would be helpful.”

“In our part of the world, people rent houses today and before you know it, they have moved out; it is sometimes even difficult to get the owners of the houses. You end up sending a particular information to that house and realise the tenant has moved out.”

“This issue is what instructed this whole exercise of tracking the individual by collecting all the necessary personal information so that we can personally interact with them as and when the need be.”