Some 2,000 houses have been disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over illegal connections.
The Accra East Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana conducted the operation on Friday at the Koiman New site in the Ayi Mensa Koiman Electoral Area.
During the exercise, it was noticed that almost all the houses in the area had been connected to illegal meters.
Atinka TV’s Ebenezer Madugu reported that only three (3) out of the about 2,000 houses were having approved ECG meters.
According to the ECG’s Accra East Regional Commercial Manager, Jonathan Asante, there are over 20,000 such meters in their area alone.
“They cannot even be described as meters. They are mere boxes. Assuming a house consumes one unit and a unit is sold for one Ghana cedi, we are losing over two million Ghana cedis in Accra East alone,” he explained
To stop the issue of illegal reconnection by the residents, the ECG officials decided to remove all the electricity cables in the community, leaving the residents in total darkness.
“If we leave the cables here, they will reconnect; The only way to prevent them from reconnecting is to take the cables away”.
Peter Geh, the Assembly member for the Ayi Mensa Koiman Electoral District, was mentioned by some locals when questioned.
A few minutes later, Mr. Geh appeared at the location. Although he acknowledged assisting residents in obtaining the alleged fake meters, he claimed he had little knowledge of how to identify a fake meter. He attributed the situation to his people’s inability to obtain a meter.
He alleged that one contractor, Solomon, from the Accra East ECG office was in charge of the installations.
Responding to the allegation, the Accra East Regional Commercial Manager of ECG, Jonathan Asante, said, “We don’t know any contractor called Solomon. An investigation will be conducted on this.”
The Communications Officer for ECG, Accra East Region, Mary Eshun, insisted that the process to get a meter is clear and straightforward.
She explained, “you rather experience the delays if you come through a middle man and ‘Goro boys”