ECG recovers over GH¢16m from stolen power

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), between January and June this year, recovered GH¢16.4 million from stolen power and other anomalies.

The money was retrieved from 2,452 illegal connections and 7,544 other anomalies, such as non-payment of bills.

Officials of the ECG recovered the money, translating into 27,833,108 KWh of power, after they had visited 301,299 meters within the period.

The General Manager of the Revenue Protection Division of the ECG, Mr David Boadi Asamoah, made this known at the Eight Engineers Forum organised by the ECG in Accra yesterday.

The forum was aimed at upgrading the skills of engineers of the ECG.

Anomalies

Mr Asamoah explained that some of the anomalies, such as delay in serving electricity bills, were caused by the ECG but some of the customers paid up when they were requested to.

He stressed that illegal connections remained one of the major challenges facing the company.

As part of its efforts to reduce the losses, stem revenue leakages, as well as identify energy theft, he said, the company adopted and implemented strategies such as the segregation of customers according to activity and unannounced review of payments updates.

He added that ECG officials faced challenges such as customers refusing to adhere to payment schedules and culprits who reconnected after officials had disconnected their power.

Additionally, he said, there were excessive delays in paying informants who tipped the ECG about consumers engaging in illegal activities, while some members of staff and contractors of the ECG were also involved in the illegal connections.

Progress made

In his address, the Managing Director of the ECG, Mr Samuel Boakye-Appiah, said the clampdown on power theft and continuous check of meters in the power distribution line had helped to increase revenue collection for the company.

He noted that the company had been able to increase its revenue with GH¢23 million as a result of the clampdown on illegal connections in the country.

He said the ECG had created an avenue for those who were not receiving bills to contact it for their situation to be rectified.