‘Fake’ Meters From Togo, Nigeria Hit Ghana

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has disclosed that some unscrupulous persons are using non-conforming meters from Togo and Nigeria.

The users of those meters aim at outwitting the system and also avoid the payment of bills, the company said.

Daniel Mensah Asare, Afienya District Manager made this known on the sidelines of the commissioning of a new ECG business center at Mataheko in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.

He said the meters do not meet the specification of ECG standardized meters, stating that efforts are underway to clamp down on such users, stating“We are taking measures together with the police to clamp down on users of those meters since they do not conform to our standards here,” Mr. Asare said.

Non-Billing Meters

Mr. Asare also revealed that there were about 18,000 meters in the Afienya District that were not receiving bills.

However, he said those meters have all been set up, and have been appropriately captured into the ECG system in the area.

Mr. Asare said the district is upgrading all the conductors within the Zenu area from a size of 50 aluminum to 120 aluminum, to be able to carry more load.

He said they will also be adding some more transformers in the system.

In a bid to extend services to households, Mr. Asare said there is a massive expansion project currently on-going under the regional supply improvement project within the Appolonia and Katamanso areas, which is targeted at getting everyone connected to the grid.

“The Afienya District being a developing community needed a central place for business hence the choosing of Mataheko for this business centre, and as we speak, we are still engaging some chiefs to get some more lands to be able to get closer to our customers to be able to provide them with efficient service” he noted.

The Director of Audit at ECG, Emmanuel Ntow, who read a speech on behalf of the MD, noted that ten other business centres have been built across the country at a cost of 6.4 million Ghana cedis.

Following the modernization projects being embarked on by the company to ensure efficiency in its business said mobile phone short-codes will soon be introduced to enable customers to receive bills and vital maintenance information directly by SMS or via e-mails.

Source: thePublisher