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Nana Kay

A year ago

IN THE ACCRA EAST AREA, 20,000 FAKE POWER METRES HAVE BEEN FOUND.

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A year ago



The Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) placed more than 20,000 fraudulent electricity meters in the Accra East Area.



The loss of income caused by the meters is thought to cost the electricity distribution business roughly GH2 million per month.



The eight active ECG districts in the area—Makola, Legon, Mampong, Kwabenya, Dodowa, Adenta, Teshie, and Roman Ridge—were able to locate them in residences.


Some of the meters, which were seized in the Ayi-Mensah/Kweiman Electoral Area and its surroundings during the early stages of an ongoing nationwide revenue mobilization exercise that is expected to end on April 20, this year, bore the inscription: "Property of the Ministry of Power (Ghana Electrometer)".


Also, it was discovered that some of the suspects had improperly restored electricity by connecting it directly to the supplied pole during the exercise carried out by the Accra East Region of the ECG at Ayi Mensah on April 14.


Investigation

In an interview with the Daily Graphic during the exercise, Jonathan Asante, the ECG's Commercial Manager in charge of the Accra East Region, stated that investigations revealed the fake meters were not a part of the self-help electrification program (SHEP) that had been authorized by the Ministry of Energy.


He said that the SHEP meters were put in place by the government to promote neighborhood development projects or civic engagement.


He continued by saying that neither the Energy Commission (EC) nor the ECG had validated or approved the phony meters, which led to fire breakouts.


The manager said that it appeared from the results of the investigations that certain unwitting consumers' residences across the nation had bogus meters installed.


"Just in the Accra East Area are an estimated 20,000 of these false meters present.


Others from the Central, Ashanti, Volta, and Great Accra areas have also been intercepted by us.


Our preliminary investigations indicate that the false meters were smuggled into the nation from Togo, Mr. Asante said. "Very soon, we will close in on the culprits behind this criminality," he said.


Income generation

According to Mary Eshun-Oppong, a communications officer in charge of the ECG Accra East Area, the activity was a part of the company's ongoing revenue mobilization effort, which also included inspecting the reliability of energy meters.


She said that when the Dodowa District first conducted the operation in the neighborhood, they discovered that the meters put in roughly 40 residences were fraudulent and confiscated them.


"Upon our return today, we discovered that they had reconnected the electricity to their residences. As a result, we removed the wires and sent them a letter asking them to appear at the ECG office so they could go through the required steps to obtain legal meters.

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