The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has cautioned household consumers to be wary of negative practices that lead to high power consumption.
It said some consumers had adopted non-conventional practices in the use of electrical appliances, resulting in unnecessary electricity wastage.
The Marketing Officer at the Accra West Regional Office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Elizabeth Appiah, who gave the advice, said some consumers failed to close their refrigerator doors properly, allowing warm air to enter. That, she explained, raised the internal temperature of the refrigerators, forcing them to consume more electricity to maintain the required cooling level.
"Another problem is that the rubber lining on the doors of some refrigerators is weak and worn out, which affects the proper locking of doors, while some people open their refrigerators at random.
“These practices, which allow hot or warm air into the refrigerators, raise the temperature inside and increase electricity consumption," she explained.
She was speaking at a public education and sensitisation forum for residents of the Korle Bu Electoral Area in the Ablekuma South Constituency of the Greater Accra Region.
The forum formed part of a series of events organised by the ECG in collaboration with the assembly member for the area, Richard Nii Aryeetey Tagoe, alias Gadhafi, to sensitise and address the concerns of the residents with regard to electricity challenges.
Misuse of gadgets
Ms Appiah cautioned consumers against using electrical appliances such as microwaves and rice cookers for purposes other than their intended functions.
She explained that some people used the appliances to prepare stew and soup or to cook eggs, cassava and yam, among other foods. According to her, such practices increased electricity consumption and reduced the efficiency of the appliances.
The Accra West Regional Office Marketing Officer explained that the gadgets had been programmed for a specific time duration by the manufacturers, and therefore, exceeding the allotted time-frame meant they were being misused or overused.
Ms Appiah called on power consumers to avoid middlemen in all aspects of electrical transactions, such as meter acquisition, fixing, repair works, and financial transactions.
Instead, they should direct all their concerns to the ECG technicians for appropriate action, she said.
Customers’ concerns
Tabling some of their concerns, some consumers complained about faulty prepaid meter keypads, saying the defects made it difficult to load credit or check the balance on their MMS prepaid meters.
Responding to the concerns, the Client Management Executive at the Korle Bu Office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Jessica Tetteh, said the issue should not pose a major challenge. She advised affected customers to contact the ECG Customer Care Centre in their respective localities for prompt assistance.
"The company can install the keypads on their Android phones to perform the same function," she assured.
Ms Tetteh, however, explained that the newly installed MMS Compliance Smart Pre-payment meters were so sensitive that the least or mere touching or tampering of the wiring would affect the gadgets, especially the recordings.
She said although consumers could use the keypad on the meters to check their balance or load electricity credit purchased through their Android phones, they should ensure that the wiring remained intact and was not tampered with in any way.
Ms Tetteh, however, explained that the newly installed MMS Compliance Smart Pre-payment meters were highly sensitive, and that even slight contact with or tampering of the wiring could affect their operation, particularly the accuracy of their recordings.
The Client Management Executive asked consumers to always report their faulty meters to their nearest ECG offices for redress and not rely on wayside electricians to fix the problems for them because they lacked the expertise and knowledge for that purpose, and could therefore easily destroy the meters.
She said the meters were the bona fide property of the ECG, even though customers are required to pay some token for acquisition for maintenance purposes, stating that a single-phase meter attracts a little over GH¢1,000 while a double-phase costs more than GH¢2,000.
