According to Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Energy, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) loses GH3.2 billion in revenue due to power theft.
He said that the phenomena was having a detrimental financial impact on the country's power distributor's ability to raise revenue for operations and maintenance of its equipment and infrastructure.
In this context, on September 14, 2021, the Energy Minister established the ECG Revenue Protection Taskforce to combat power theft, minimise consumer debt, replace faulty metres, and monitor metre audits.
Dr Opoku Prempeh told media at the Minister's press conference on Wednesday in Accra, themed "Keeping the Lights on, Keeping the Nation Moving," that the ECG taskforce had collected a little over GH30 million from corporate institutions and individuals who were in debt.
Despite the fact that the Judicial Service has created specific tribunals to judge instances involving electricity theft, the Minister stated that the Ministry's first choice, rather than going to court, was to limit power access to persons or entities owing ECG and make arrangements for payment.
"We will come and disconnect your light and make arrangements for payments instalment rather than prosecuting you," Dr Opoku Prempeh said. "Going to court is the last resort, but our focus is to get our money for power consumed, and so if you're indebted to ECG, we will come and disconnect your light and make arrangements for payments instalment rather than prosecuting you."
"You can't have electricity for free," the Minister said, "therefore it's our joint obligation to pay for the power we use."