About 50 residential facilities at Oyarifa in Accra were yesterday disconnected from the national grid for engaging in power theft.
Also, more than 45 fake meters installed at the affected houses were confiscated by a taskforce of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
None of the residents was arrested but the occupants of the facilities were summoned to report to the Accra East Region Office of the power distributor.
The Accra East Region of the ECG covers eight operational districts including Makola, Legon, Kwabenya, Roman Ridge, Teshie, Dodowa, Adenta and Mampong.
The exercise formed part of the ECG’s revenue mobilisation programme which commenced on March 20 and is expected to end in April 20, 2023
The Commercial Manager of Accra East Region of the ECG, Mr Jonathan Asante, who led the exercise, said, the taskforce, as part of its meter monitoring activities, discovered that residential facilities and other buildings within the area have been illegally connected to the national grid.
Upon further checks, he said, the team also noted that most of the buildings had fake meters while others had tampered with their original meters installed by personnel of the ECG.
Although most of the fake meters were uninstalled and taken away by the taskforce, the residents engaged the services of unauthorised persons to connect them directly to the national grid.
Mr Asante cautioned power consumers against the use of fake meters saying, it could easily cause fire outbreaks and other electrical dangers.
In an interaction with some of the residents, he encouraged them to engage the ECG and go through the required processes for power extension to the area which was a new site under development.
He said the taskforce had identified more than 200,000 fake meters in operation within the Accra East region, a situation, he described as inimical to the sustainability of ECG.
The Communication Officer of the Accra East Region ECG, Mary Eshun noted that the Region in the first week of the exercise recovered more than GH¢100 million debts adding that the office would fully disclose all the gains by the end of next week.
The Assemblyman of Ayi Mensah Kweiman Electoral Area, Mr Peter Kudjo Geh, said, although he assisted some of the residents in acquiring the meters, he was not aware they were fake.
The fake meters, he said, were being sold to the residents at about GH¢400.
He assured of his availability to assist the ECG in clamping down on those responsible for the sale of fake meters in the area.
Mr Geh said the community members would take the initiative and engage the ECG to immediately address the challenge.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
