The Afienya District of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, discovered that one customer had connected electricity to about thirty -three structures within the same vicinity in Gbetsile, a suburb of Kpone Katamanso Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
The illegal activity was discovered as part of ECG’s ongoing revenue mobilisation exercise, which started on Monday, May 29, 2023, and is expected to end on Friday, June 2, 2023.
Upon the arrival of ECG personnel, the customer fled from the scene.
However, the team managed to locate the meter outside the customer’s premises, making it accessible for investigation purposes.
During interactions with the residents, ECG officials learned that some individuals claimed to have been making monthly payments to the owner of the meter for the power they were using.
This raised suspicions about the illicit distribution of power in the area.
Another discovery made in the same vicinity had to do with a fake meter and normal ECG meters which had been moved from their original locations to new structures in Gbetsile, all of which are infractions.
Briefing the media, the District Manager for ECG Afienya District, Ing Daniel Mensah-Asare indicated that as part of the exercise, “we also check on the state of the meters to ensure that they are in good condition and working as they are expected to.”
He said it was during one of such meter checks that the group discovered that the meter, which had been fixed to one of the structures, had wires connecting to surrounding structures.
Further checks, he said revealed that there had been an illegal connection in the form of a meter bypass and so the customer was not paying the right amount for the power consumed.
The team engaged some of the residents who claimed to have been paying for the power they were using to the owner of the meter every month.
Some said they had been paying an average of Gh¢35 a month for several months.
The ECG personnel informed the other residents of the various infractions discovered before disconnecting the supply from the service pole.
The service cable was also seized by the company.
Ing Mensah-Asare indicated that the revenue mobilisation and meter integrity checks were going on well, adding that they had not had any resistance from customers.
He called on customers to ensure that the meters would be accessible to ECG workers whenever necessary.
He also admonished against illegal connections, adding that “potential culprits should know that ECG has the mandate to prosecute for illegal connection which could lead to a jail term, fine or both.”
The Public Relations Officer for the ECG in the Tema Region, Sakyiwa Mensah called upon the offender to immediately report to the Tema Regional Office of ECG to address the issue and face appropriate consequences.
She explained, “This customer has decided to distribute power to the other 33 structures. Further checks also revealed that the owner of the meter had done an illegal connection in the form of a meter bypass, which means that all the power they are using does not pass through the meter, so they are not paying for using the power.”
Despite the customer’s attempt to evade capture, ECG has taken proactive steps by issuing a summons letter to the offender.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
