Ho, Nov. 04, GNA – The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has undertaken an operation to seek for illegal power connections in the Volta and Oti Regions.
The exercise was to address power theft in the operational areas of the Company, and comes on the back of the recent formation of a national taskforce against illegal connections.
“Following the inauguration of the national taskforce against illegal connection on 14th September, 2021 by the Energy Minister, Honorable Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the region has also commenced a special exercise to support the activities of the taskforce to help the company curb the menace of illegal connection,” Mr. Emmanuel Lumor, Volta Regional Manager of the ECG told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the exercise.
The exercise which began on Friday, 29th October by the ECG monitoring team was led by its General Manager, visited households, and commercial facilities including hostels and hotels, cold stores, pubs, restaurants, and public institutions.
He said illegalities uncovered during the exercise included “meter bypasses, unauthorized and direct connections, and meter tampering”, and warned that all the culprits would be surcharged.
Mr. Lumor said free usage of power deprived the company of the needed revenue, and affects the pursuit of projects that would inure to the benefits of customers.
“As a company, we have to pay our suppliers like GRIDCO, VRA and independent power producers when we purchase power from them to distribute to our cherished customers, hence consuming power illegally prevents the company from getting money to pay these key players on the electricity supply chain”, he said.
He further mentioned the burden of transformer overload on the distribution system, which was the prime result of illegalities, and also remained the main cause of breakdowns and power outages.
“When people connect to the national grid illegally, it overloads our transformers and leads to low voltage and interruption of power supply to our cherished customers,” he stated, and appealed to the public to help sustain power supply through prompt payment of bills and the avoidance of illegal acts.
The Regional Manager said meter bypass remained a major criminal offence for which apart from being a very dangerous could lead to fire outbreaks and the loss of life through electrocution.
Mr. Lumor said the Company retains the authority to prosecute culprits, and called on the public to support the fight against illegal connections by reporting perpetrators to the nearest ECG office, and that a financial reward awaits such informers.
“There is a six per cent commission of any amount we recoup as an incentive for anyone who gives us reliable information to unearth any illegality,” he affirmed.
GNA