The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has said that preparations are being made to launch a new initiative that would concentrate on unauthorized power connections in the country.
According to Samuel Mahama, illegal connections cost grave losses to his outfit, therefore, the need for the outfit to undertake the exercise.
He further added that people who would be culpable of the act will be tried in court for stealing.
“So let’s take it that I am giving everyone a head start. Anybody who believes their meter has been tampered with and there is a bypass, note that the utility court is being set up and you are going to be charged with stealing.
“You will not be charged with bypass and we know stealing is imprisonment, so if you’ve bypassed the meter please correct it,” he said on Tuesday.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr Mahama used the platform to caution people who are illegally connected to the grid or using fake meters to address the issue before the exercise is rolled out.
He stressed that there will be no favours on the day of reckoning.
“This thing is a big moral and responsibility and values fight. We need to stop,” he stressed.
Mr Mahama decried the losses the power distributing company has endured due to the illicit behaviour.
Citing a newspaper, he said illegal connections cost ECG at least GH₵2 billion.
“For every percentage lost, it costs ECG GH₵100 million, and right now, ECG’s losses is at about 28 percent so that is GH₵2.8 billion,” he stated.
In March, the power-distributing company started an ambitious programme to recover GH₵5.7 billion owed by its customers.
Private manufacturing industries and mining firms are the highest debtors, followed by some government institutions.
Touching on the topic, ECG’s Managing Director said his outfit is halfway through the debt collection exercise.