JUST IN : ECG Arrest 40 Customers Consuming Power Illegally

40 ECG customers in the Ashanti region were arrested for fraudulently consuming GH350k of electricity.

Approximately twenty customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti region whose power was cut off during the recent revenue mobilization exercise in the region have been arrested.

They illegally reconnected the power and consumed GH86,000 worth of electricity as a consequence.

The detained individuals were a part of a group of forty customers who engaged in illegal connections and did not pay for the electricity they used, depriving the company of enormous revenue.

Among the identified unlawful activities are meter bypass, meter tampering, and direct connections.

The identification and apprehension of the customers followed a month-long effort by the company to recover all debts owed to it and to monitor the conditions of meter installations at customer facilities.

According to ECG statistics, the total amount of illegal power usage by the customers was approximately GH350,000.

Ing Kofi Danso, the head of the Revenue Protection Unit for the Electricity Company of Ghana in the Ashanti region, explained that after dispatching a task force to inspect their meters, the company discovered that the majority of their previously disconnected customers had illegally reconnected power.

To avoid prosecution, he cautioned the public against engaging in any form of unlawful connection.He disclosed that these customers were initially disconnected because their debt profile was high and they must resolve their debt before regaining access to electricity.

Ing. Danso reiterated that ECG as a company does not take pleasure in disconnecting customers because the company buys and sells electricity. Therefore, the more power a customer consumes, the more money the company makes.

Engineer Fred Kwabena Bediako, the General Manager, Network, of the ECG in the Ashanti Region, reaffirmed the company's commitment to reducing losses in the region and urged customers to assist in this endeavor.

He also urged customers to make payment of their electricity invoices a top priority in order to enable management to provide dependable and sustainable power, as revenue is what keeps the lights on.

The Network Manager stated that the rate of power theft in the Ashanti Region was alarming, noting that the majority of businesses and households in the region are connected to the national infrastructure but do not pay for electricity use.