Utility companies wailing over illegal connections

The utility companies in Ghana are wailing over what they say are losses due to illegal connections.

The Electricity Company of Ghana has disclosed that the company loses about $400 million to illegal connections.

The Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, indicated that the amount of money ECG fails to collect is largely made up of its commercial

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"I mean theft; those who are stealing meters, those who are bypassing their meters, those whose meters are not working, and those who don’t even have meters but also have electricity."

The story is not different at the Ghana Water Company. The company has disclosed that 40 per cent of its water generated for use cannot be accounted for.

The water supply company added that the percentage of revenue losses is mostly as a result of leakages, bursts, and illegal water connections by consumers.

The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources even added that they will be moving from house to house in an unsuspected fashion to arrest those who are stealing their water.

The question to ask is, has the digitization spree not gotten these companies? Can't we put in place structures that are able to detect illegal connections and report them automatically for these individuals to be arrested?

How can we produce water at such a high price given the destruction caused by "galasey" operators and allow 40% of it to go to waste?

Can't we equip those who distribute bills, in the case of the Ghana water, to check households' visits for illegal connections before giving out the bills to them?

The utility companies were always complaining about having to operate and sell their services at prices lower than what they produced. Must we not police the little that we are supposed to collect?

The blame cannot be put solely on these companies. There are known places where these utility companies cannot go to do their work freely. There have even been community agitations against the staff of these companies for performing their lawful duties.

We live and work with people who make illegal connections, and we will not complain because, to us, that is not our work. Why must you pay and allow your fellow consumers to consume the service for free?

The problem is a double-edged sword and it will only take a concerted effort by the government, the citizenry and these companies to achieve the right results.