The Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd. (ECG), Accra West Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has recovered GH¢675,313.00 from 94 customers found to have engaged in various forms of illegal connection of power.
The illegalities the customers engaged in included meter bypasses, meter tampering, unauthorized service connections and direct connections.
Their activities were identified during the company’s one-week nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise embarked upon from Monday, May 26 to June 2, 2023.
Debts
The revenue mobilisation initiative, a follow-up to the initial one month exercise, was designed to retrieve all debts owed the ECG.
It was also to monitor the health of its meter installations in customer facilities.
In the course of the monitoring, the Accra West Region retrieved 535,822 KWh of electricity which translated into the GH¢675,313.00.
Vigilance
Commenting on the development, the ECG Accra West General Manager, Emmanuel Akinie commended the vigilance of the field team in uncovering the illegalities.
He noted that the illegalities identified were sophisticated, which showed the determination of some customers to deny the company of revenue from the electricity they use.
“We have disconnected power to these customers, surcharged them for the electricity they used and a penalty fee for engaging in the illegalities and they will be prosecuted,” Ing. Akinie added.
Technology
ECG has revealed that it is investing heavily in technology to help identify customers who engage in illegalities.
“We have introduced some smart meter solutions on pilot basis, which give us real time updates of what is happening on a customer premises. It signals our office once the meter-case is opened, bypassed or tampered with,” he said.
Ing. Akinie signaled plans to roll out more of such smart meters to aid in the fight against illegalities.
The Accra West Region has eight operational districts. These are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korle-Bu and Nsawam.
Source: myghanadaily
