Man in police grips for illegal power connection
The Amasaman Divisional Police Command has arrested a 40-year-old trader, Kofi Mensah, for reconnecting to the national grid after he was disconnected for an illegal connection.
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The Amasaman District Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Kingsley Opoku, said during one of its usual monitoring exercises, field staff identified the suspect who was using an unauthorised meter at ‘Nii Aryee’, a suburb of Pokuase.
A closer inspection, he said, revealed that the meter had been illegally moved from another district.
Relationship
Following that, he said Mr Mensah was disconnected and directed to visit the office to regularise his relationship with the company.
But Mr Opoku said the customer refused to visit the office but illegally reconnected to the grid by himself. He said anytime the customer was disconnected, he reconnected to the national grid without recourse to the company.
Premises
“We were further alarmed when we realised that the customer had now used a cable to directly connect his premises to the low voltage cables that serve the community. He had also extended this illegal supply to other customers in the area,” he said.
Mr Opoku revealed that the actions of the suspect did not only pose danger to himself and other customers, but they also led to technical challenges with the transformer that served the community.
He said the suspect initially resisted an attempt by the staff of the company to disconnect him, prompting the involvement of the police who ensured that the disconnection was done.
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Warning
The Accra West General Manager of the ECG, Emmanuel Akinie, warned customers to desist from interfering in the company’s distribution network. He noted that such interferences did not only pose danger to the unauthorised individuals but could cause fire outbreaks, leading to damage to properties.
“We are consistently reviewing our strategies to identify, surcharge and prosecute any persons found to be stealing power or engaged in other forms of illegalities that negatively affect our system,” he said.
The Accra West Region has eight operational districts. These are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korle Bu and Nsawam.