Case Study of Monthly Disparities between Consumed and Billed Household Electricity in Ghana [ READ ]
Emmanuel Yeboah Osei, Barbara Caroline Kwofi
This paper used electricity meter readings to comparatively assess the monthly disparities between actual household electricity consumption and Electricity Company of Ghana billed consumption for a 3-bedroom house in Ghana for a duration of eight months from April to November 2013. This case study was done to provide empirical insight into the nature of residential electricity bill irregularities based on concerns of some households. The empirical results showed monthly disparities throughout the duration of study. The electricity bills in kWh units were over-billed for September, October, and November by 70.4%, 9.1%, and 4.6% respectively. This resulted in inflation of the real cost of electricity consumption of 88.5%, 8.9%, and 4.5% for the respective months. However, the electricity bills in kWh units were under-billed for April, May, June, July, and August by 19.3%, 27.0%, 46.4%, 4.2%, and 39.1% respectively. This again resulted in deflation of the real cost of electricity consumption of 18.4%, 25.8%, 44.4%, 4.1%, and 37.9% for the respective months. These disparities revealed a fundamental problem of the Electricity Company of Ghana not billing the exact monthly electricity consumption for this case study. However, the overall disparity was an over-billing of just 1.2% which was relatively small compared with the disparities for the individual months. The Electricity Company of Ghana confirmed that such disparities are usually corrected as and when complaints are made to their offices.
Emmanuel Yeboah Osei, Barbara Caroline Kwofi
This paper used electricity meter readings to comparatively assess the monthly disparities between actual household electricity consumption and Electricity Company of Ghana billed consumption for a 3-bedroom house in Ghana for a duration of eight months from April to November 2013. This case study was done to provide empirical insight into the nature of residential electricity bill irregularities based on concerns of some households. The empirical results showed monthly disparities throughout the duration of study. The electricity bills in kWh units were over-billed for September, October, and November by 70.4%, 9.1%, and 4.6% respectively. This resulted in inflation of the real cost of electricity consumption of 88.5%, 8.9%, and 4.5% for the respective months. However, the electricity bills in kWh units were under-billed for April, May, June, July, and August by 19.3%, 27.0%, 46.4%, 4.2%, and 39.1% respectively. This again resulted in deflation of the real cost of electricity consumption of 18.4%, 25.8%, 44.4%, 4.1%, and 37.9% for the respective months. These disparities revealed a fundamental problem of the Electricity Company of Ghana not billing the exact monthly electricity consumption for this case study. However, the overall disparity was an over-billing of just 1.2% which was relatively small compared with the disparities for the individual months. The Electricity Company of Ghana confirmed that such disparities are usually corrected as and when complaints are made to their offices.
