ECG retrieves monies from illegal power consumers in Accra

The Accra West Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has retrieved GH¢4,032,855.00 from illegal power consumers.

The money was recovered from 777 customers whose illegal activities included meter by-pass, direct connections, meter tampering and unauthorised service connections.

The total amount of money retrieved translated into 3,801.726 kilowatts hour (kwh) of electricity.

Campaigns

The Accra West Regional General Manager, Mr George Appiah-Kubi who made this known, said the exercise formed part of a massive revenue protection campaign launched earlier this year to rid the system of power theft.

Illegal power connection remains one of the biggest challenges facing the ECG in the country.

System losses by the company is currently at 23.5 per cent thus causing the power distributor to lose huge amounts of revenue.

A special court has been designated to  prosecute those who steal power or engaged in such illegal connections.

Special taskforce

As part of its efforts to reduce the incidents, Mr Appiah-Kubi said a special revenue protection taskforce had been formed by the Accra West Region of the ECG to monitor the situation and retrieve all monies due the company.

“We have formed a special revenue protection task force whose duty is to inspect meters installed in the region and audit the authenticity of the electricity connections in those facilities.

 The result of the consistent monitoring by the task force is the retrieval of the money, which the company would otherwise have lost,” he explained.

The manager condemned power theft activities saying it had negative effects on the company’s operations.

Aside impeding prompt payment to power producers, he said it also constrained the company from regularly undertaking system improvement and expansion projects.

The manager, therefore, urged the public to desist from such acts and rather endeavour to pay their bills promptly.

Volunteer information

For his part, the Accra West Revenue Protection Manager of ECG, Ebenezer Yao Fiador, entreated the public to volunteer information on illegal activities.

He said identity of persons who provided credible information would be protected and paid a percentage of any amount recovered from such connections.

Mr Fiador gave an assurance that the revenue protection exercise would be intensified and institutionalised to achieve zero-per cent power theft in the region.

“We are collaborating with the security agencies and constantly revising our revenue protection tactics to stay ahead of the criminals,” he said.

The Accra West Region of the ECG has seven operational districts. They are Kaneshie, Korle Bu, Dansoman, Ablekuma, Nsawam, Bortianor and Achimota District.