ECG establishes police unit to fight power thieves

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), in the Ashanti Region, has taken the fight against people who steal power to a newer height.

This follows the establishment of ECG police prosecution unit at Adum in Kumasi, to help expedite the prosecution of unscrupulous people.

Other offences include illegal transfer of meters, tampering, fidgeting with meters, reversing of meters, illegal installation of meters and self reconnection.

The new unit which was officially opened on Wednesday at a short ceremony, is manned by two policemen and some ECG staff.

The policemen would periodically join the ECG Revenue Protection Unit to arrest people who steal power and quickly arraigned them for court.

Erasmus Kyere-Baidoo, the Public Relations Manager of the Ashanti Regional ECG, said the opening of the unit has come at the appropriate time.

He lamented that the power company had been losing huge amounts of money because of power theft and other illegal activities by some customers.

Mr. Kyere-Baidoo stated that management had therefore decided to establish the police prosecution unit to protect ECG’s revenue.

He announced that ECG would launch a massive revenue collection exercise in the region next week, urging its customers to cooperate.

Metering Exercise

He announced that his outfit had taken delivery of 1000 meters to replace faulty meters in the region.

Mr. Kyere-Baidoo explained that the meter replacement drive became necessary following complaints they received from customers in Kumasi on ‘Customer Complaints Day’, held at all ECG branches in the region on March 11, this year.

He noted that the pre-paid metering project in Kumasi had also gathered momentum with over 100,000 meters installed so far.

He mentioned Asokwa, Ayigya Kotei, Patase, Denyame, Asafo and Adum as some of the areas covered, adding that they are now at Asokore Mampong area.

Sensitization Drive

The ECG top official said his outfit on Thursday embarked on a community engagement sensitization exercise at the Sokoban Wood Village.

Mr. Kyere-Baidoo said the people were educated on how to acquire meter and they were warned over illegal connections and other malpractices.