About 20 clients of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti region, whose power were disconnected during the recent revenue mobilisation exercise in the region have been arrested.
They had managed to reconnect power illegally and had consumed GH¢86,000 worth of electricity as a result.
The arrested persons were part of 40 customers who engaged in various forms of illegal connections and did not pay for the electricity they used, denying the Company of huge revenue.
Some of the illegal activities identified include meter bypass, meter tampering and direct connections.
The identification and arrest of the customers followed the Company’s month-long exercise to retrieve all debts owed it, and monitoring of the conditions of the meter installations in customer facilities.
In all, the customers illegally used power translating into about GH¢350,000 according to ECG records.
Ing Kofi Danso, the Head of Revenue Protection Unit of the Electricity Company of Ghana in Ashanti region explained that the Company, after deploying a task force to visit their meters discovered that most of their customers who had hitherto been disconnected had reconnected power illegally.
He cautioned the public to desist from engaging in any form of illegal connection to avoid being prosecuted.He disclosed that these customers were disconnected initially because their debt profile was high and would have to settle their indebtedness before they have access to power.
Ing. Danso reiterated that ECG as a company does not take delight in disconnecting customers because the company buys and sells power and, therefore, the more a customer consumes power the more the company makes money, meaning disconnecting customers deprives them of revenue from unserved power.
Engineer Fred Kwabena Bediako, the General Manager, Network, of the ECG in the Ashanti Region expressed ECG’s commitment to reducing losses in the Region and called on customers to cooperate with them in that regard.
He also appealed to the customers to make the payment of electricity bills their topmost priority to enable management to supply a reliable and sustainable power since the revenue keeps the lights on.
The Manager in charge of Network said the rate of power theft in the Ashanti Region was worrying, noting that most companies and households in the Region are connected to the national grid, but pay nothing for the use of electricity.
