Nonetheless, the Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Ms Fausta Ganaa, told the Daily Graphic that the institution did not have the resources to pay the amount being demanded by the ECG and, therefore, the plausible thing for it to do was to pass on the debt to the students if the government did not go to the aid of the polytechnic.
“Any attempt to pay 80 per cent of the amount, as demanded by the ECG, will be detrimental to our very existence,” she said.
Fuel cost
As a result of the disconnection, Ms Ganaa said, the polytechnic now spent GH¢2,500 daily on fuel for its generators, so that academic activities could go on.
MDAs must pay
The government, in 2014, gave a directive to all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to pay their utility bills.
Since then, the ECG has been disconnecting MDAs, particularly public tertiary institutions, that default in the payment of electricity bills.
Last August, the company disconnected the Koforidua Polytechnic from the national electricity grid for failing to pay its electricity bills, totalling GH¢790,000.
Ms Ganaa, however, said the government had not finalised its decision for public tertiary institutions to pay their own utility bills, as the institutions were still in consultation with the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Tertiary Education to discuss the way forward.
Part payment
She said even though the consultations were ongoing, Accra Poly had made some effort to pay part of the electricity bill.
“Just a week before the disconnection of power to our premises, the institution paid GH¢250,000 and so we are surprised at ECG’s action,” she said.
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)