Pastor, Electricians jailed for power theft

The Electricity Company of Ghana is cautioning the public against the purchase of scam energy saving cards.

The cards are being sold by some unscrupulous persons parading as staff of ECG.

Three of such persons, Pastor Jude Bentum, and two electricians, Kofi Aboagye and Richard Asusey were on Saturday sentenced by an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Afi Agbanu-Kudomor to six months in prison with hard Labour.

The trio were arrested at Sowutuom in the Ga Central Municipality of the Greater Accra region after they tried selling fake energy saving cards.

Head of Prosecution at the ECG, Paul Assibi Abariga, advised ECG customers to report any person who offers to sell any energy saving card, as the move will not only have dire consequences on their billing system but also may lead to imprisonment.

“You really do not get any benefit from it; the benefit is temporary; you may be relieved for a while but when the card expires, then the distribution system begins to normalize and in that normalization period it begins to recoup what it has lost as a result of the interference with the scam card.

“And you will see that your meter now begins to run faster, and you begin to pay or buy more power; and that is when you begin to complain that your meter either has a problem or there is a problem with ECG.

"There is no problem with ECG; your meter has no problem too, it is because of your indulgence in that particular malpractice that you are paying off for within that period,” Mr. Abariga said.

The ECG fears that there are more of such cards in the hands of some unscrupulous people and want the public to be alert of such scam.