Address ECG meter shortages to curb power losses

The persistent issue of meter shortages at ECG is an unfortunate reality that has persisted for far too long.

An assessment by the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) of some districts in the country show that there are thousands of applications and consistent queues for meters but the severe scarcity of meters denies many people access to available power. 

Consequently, incidents of meter theft and racketeering are on the rise and now costs between GH¢3,000 and GH¢5,000 to buy meters from “Goro guys” (black market sellers), mostly ECG workers and contractors.

The root causes of this problem are not solely financial, but political factors also contribute to the dire situation.

One of the contributing factors to the high cost of meters in the country is the presence of shady contracting practices and an abusive local content policy that ignores competitive pricing and fails to deliver value to the consumer. The exorbitant costs associated with meters can be attributed to these inefficiencies.  

Given the urgent need to reduce under-recoveries in the power sector, such inefficiencies cannot be tolerated.

Addressing the issue of meter shortages requires a comprehensive approach that tackles both the financial and political aspects of the problem.

It is crucial to reform the contracting processes and review the local content policy to ensure that consumers receive meters at reasonable costs, promoting affordability and accessibility.

Additionally, transparency and accountability must be prioritised to eliminate corrupt practices and efficiently allocate resources. 

The power sector cannot afford to continue suffering from the consequences of meter shortages, and urgent action is required to rectify this situation.

This is because electricity is one of the major determinants of the economic prosperity of any country. It plays a significant role in undertaking daily activities from cooking, lighting, heating to powering machines in the industrial sector.

Electricity is also essential for quality healthcare delivery, education, transport, effective communication, mineral exploration and many more; serving as the building block on which every sector of a nation’s economy thrives. This emphasises how crucial and indispensable electricity is for human existence in the 21st century.

One of the reasons for the losses in the power sector is that while prepaid meters are being implemented in the private sector, those in the government sector are still on credit meters, hence the huge debt levels. 

One challenge to the implementation of the prepaid metering system in the private sector is the lack of education on the part of the utility companies to the consumers. 

For us, a successful implementation of the prepaid metering system in both the private and public sector will ensure funds are available for the effective operation of the sector including the replacement of obsolete transmission and distribution equipment to help improve on the technical losses.

The Graphic Business therefore agrees with the African Centre for Energy Policy recommendations that calls for urgent steps to enhance transparency and accountability throughout the power sector value chain. 

Again, ECG should prevent unauthorised connections by ensuring that its employees have a high sense of integrity and trustworthiness. This will deter many individuals from participating in illegal connections.

We further suggest that the government and other ECG stakeholders assist in the implementation of dependable systems and modern technologies to improve power capacity in order to prevent prepaid metering failures and frequent power outages.

Without such fundamental changes, no intervention or solution will effectively address the prevailing challenges.