THE REGIONAL branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in Tema has between January and August this year retrieved an amount of GH₵2.4 million out of a total of GH₵2.8 million owed the company by consumers through power theft.
According to ECG, the company is in the process of recovering an outstanding balance of GH₵400, 000 from its customers after their prosecution at court.
Speaking at a press soiree in Tema, Emmanuel Seidu, the Revenue Manager of the region who represented the Regional Commercial Manager explained that the amount was recovered from people in residential, commercial and industrial areas who had engaged in what he termed ‘illegal connection’ and were arrested.
He said stern efforts were being made to retrieve every pesewa stolen from the company.
The Revenue Manager seized the opportunity to caution power consumers who engage in illegal connections to desist from that nefarious act since they will not be left unpunished when caught.
He said ECG, with the support of the Ministry of Power, was doing everything possible to recover all debts to reinvest in the sector to sustain and make it more efficient.
For his part, the Tema Regional Manager of ECG, Engineer Jones Ofori-Addo indicated that apart from power theft, another challenge facing the power distribution company was the indiscriminate and uncoordinated distribution of pre-paid meters.
Notwithstanding the headache, Mr. Ofori-Addo said, the company has plans of extending the pre-paid meters to areas like Gbetsile, New Jerusalem, Katamansu among others before the close of next year.
According to him, the Self Help Electrification Project (SHEP) metering given out to some communities by some politicians without the knowledge of ECG was a challenge the company had to deal with.
He added that steps were being taken to replace all those meters or put them in the system. This, to him, would help the company improve upon its revenue generation.
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