Accra East ECG begins exercise to replace over 250,000 meters
The Accra East Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has begun the replacement of over 250,000 Nurri meters with smart ones in the eight districts under its operational area.
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The exercise, which began yesterday, will also involve the replacement of other obsolete meters, including the postpaid ones in the system.
It forms part of the replacement of close to 1.5 million meters under the Loss Reduction Project (LRP) being executed by the ECG.
The replacement of the meters in Accra East is expected to be completed at the end of October.
Commencement
At a media engagement to kick-start the replacement exercise in the Accra East Region, the Managing Director of the ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama, charged Ghanaians not to politicise the exercise.
"We are replacing these meters not because we want to cheat anybody, far from that. If anybody feels cheated, the standards authority are available, the meters were calibrated, we can check it and we can do a home audit with the person to justify," he said.
He said the old meters the company had were very mechanical and led to some form of revenue loss.
Currently with the meters that "we have in place, they are off by just some few basis points. So every single thing you use at home will be read."
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Mr Mahama said the new smart meters were MMS compliant and were visible on the dashboards of offices of the ECG.
" Please don't touch these meters because we will know. Please don't tamper with these meters because we will know," he emphasised.
Mr Mahama said there had been a huge revenue leakage across the country and so the company had to change close to 1.5 million meters as quickly as possible.
Regional Manager
Earlier, the Accra East Regional Manager of the ECG, Bismark Otoo, said the press conference was to inform customers of the exercise and named the main contractor carrying out the replacement as Alpha TND.
He said the meters which were located in places, including the Makola, Roman Ridge, Legon, Adentan, Dodowa, Teshie and Kwabenya districts, were being replaced because they had become dysfunctional and that it was in the interest of both customers and the company to change them to bring about more transparency.
Reason
Reason for the replacement, Mr Otoo said, was to address the myriad of issues customers had experienced with the ageing meters currently in use such as inaccurate billing, frequent power outages and difficulties in recharging prepaid meters.
“The old meters, many of which have been in service for over a decade, are increasingly prone to technical faults that disrupt service delivery,” he explained.
He said 10 contractors had been assigned to each district, with a target of at least 37 meters being installed a day, thereby bringing the total to 370 meters daily in each district.
He said outstanding credit balance would be transferred to new meters within 48 hours of replacement and that any debt on old postpaid meters would be transferred onto the new meters.
He said a help desk would be set up to address customer concerns in all districts and also stated that by the end of October, all the obsolete meters would have been replaced.