The Tema Regional office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has commenced the installation of smart meters (pre-payment meters) in all towns and villages in the two Krobo traditional areas in the Eastern Region.
The smart meter installation exercise started at Kpong and is expected to be rolled out in Odumase, Somanya and other towns in Kroboland.
As of Friday, May 6, 2022 over 100 smart meters had been installed in residential and non-residential areas.
The Tema Regional Manager of ECG, Ing Emmanuel Akinie, who revealed this during an engagement with stakeholders in Odumase-Krobo on Thursday, said they were gradually doing the installation, so that “if there are problems, we will be able to identify them and solve them.”
Emmanuel Akinie noted that they had so far not encountered any challenge since the beginning of the exercise, commending the people of Krobo for their cooperation.
“Some customers have purchased credit successfully,” he said.
Ing Akinie told the gathering that management had decided to waive the internal protocols for acquisition of the meter, such that post-paid customers who would be migrated onto the prepaid meters will be given flexible terms to pay part of their outstanding debt anytime they purchase credit.
He said those who have purchased credit onto their prepaid meters at Kpong could attest to the fact that there were no deductions made to settle their outstanding debts, when they purchased the credit.
“ECG will not use the prepaid meters to manage the payment of debts,” he assured the customers.
Touching on the four year outstanding bills owed by the residents, Ing Akinie said upon further engagement with stakeholders and the national security, management had extended the two years duration to five years, to make it more flexible for them to pay.
The ECG also used the opportunity to educate the gathering about the importance of using prepaid meters.
For example, with smart or prepaid meters, consumers could manage their electricity consumption.
Again, with the prepaid meters, customers would no more suffer disconnection as compared to the post-paid meters, which allowed for disconnection from the grid for non-payment of bills.
With the prepaid meters, customers can now decide to put some of their appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners off at regular intervals to save cost.
Nene Asada Author, PRO of Manya Krobo Traditional Council, who was the chairman for the occasion, urged residents to allow ECG to carry out the installation of the prepaid meters since it would be of help to them. He, however, urged ECG to resolve any issue the residents may raise.
The Krobo District ECG team, with support from the Metering and Technical Services (MTS) from the national head office, Accra, undertook the prepaid meter installation.
