Man in Police grip over illegal connection which allegedly stole power valued at Gh¢156k

The New Weija Police Command has arrested Jackson Ekow, a 41-year-old electrician, and sub-contractor for the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) for aiding a customer of the Company to illegally use power for free.

He was arraigned before the Weija Circuit Court, and charged with stealing electricity power valued at Gh¢156,000.00, and interfering with the electricity distribution meters belonging to the ECG.

According to facts narrated by Chief Inspector Joseph Barabu, the Investigating Officer, the 2nd accused, currently at large, was a caretaker of a 4-bedroom self-contained storey building at ‘cassava farm’ in Accra.

In December 2022, the complainant, an officer of the Bortianor District Office of the ECG, had information that the caretaker had illegally connected electricity to the apartment without meters.

This was followed by an enquiry by the ECG’s field monitoring team which confirmed the illegality, and the power to the apartment was disconnected.

The caretaker was invited to the office to pay a penalty for illegally using power for free and also to regularise his status with the Company.

The caretaker failed to honour the invitation to the office, and rather engaged the services of the accused person, Jackson Ekow, to reconnect lights to the apartment without recourse to ECG.

The Weija circuit court presided over by Mr Joshua Caleb Abaidoo reportedly granted the accused person bail of Gh¢12,000.00, to reappear on December 24, 2024.

Meanwhile, Dr Mark Owusu Ansah, Revenue Protection Manager for ECG Accra West Region, in a news brief, cautioned customers against engaging the services of persons who were not authorised by the ECG to work within its power supply and distribution system.

“We have intensified our physical presence in communities through field monitoring, and also employed the use of technology to enable us detect customers who are illegally connected to the grid and using power for free”, he said.

Dr Owusu Ansah noted that all arrested customers would be surcharged for the power they had illegally used and reported to the police for criminal prosecution.

The Accra West region of ECG has eight operational districts. These are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor,Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korle-bu and Nsawam.