Smart’ meters to fight power fraud

The Intelligent Marketing & Energy Solution (IMES) has launched a new smart metering system in a bid to tackle power bypasses and meter-tampering by users.

Speaking at the company’s inauguration, Fred Frimpong, Managing Director IMES, said the smart meter is the first of its kind in the country and purposely designed to check power fraud while offering convenience in usage.

“Our meters work in such a way that if a consumer tries to bypass and/or tamper with it, the system is immediately notified. Another good thing about this is that you have the option to load your meter with a scratchcard.

“So instead of ECG having vending points all over the country to sell prepaid credit to consumers, these scratchcards can be sold everywhere, the way the Telcos sell their credit. You can just go out there and buy a scratchcard, enter the serial number into the meter, and then you get it reloaded,” he said.

He further commended government for the immediate ban on importation of electricity cables, meters and transformers, saying: “We are confident that interventions like this will work to mitigate existing challenges within the metering industry”.

President John Dramani Mahama, giving the keynote address, lauded the initiative of IMES to help address power theft -- a major challenge that has culminated in landing the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) into huge debt, adding: “It is one of the major reasons that has been attributed for high tariffs in the country.

“This initiative is critical for sustainable power generation because one of the problems ECG faces is the issue of unaccounted loss of power. Power theft accounts for the bulk of losses, but ECG must account for all the power supplied to it by VRA.

“So if people steal part of that power, ECG will have to increase tariffs to recover the money and settle the shortfall. And that is one of the reasons why tariffs are high, because the amount lost must be transferred for all consumers to pay. Hence, we must all be alert and report all cases of power bypass to the police,” he said.

Also at the programme was Minister of Power Dr. Kwabena Donkor, who noted that the new company’s inauguration is in line with government’s transformation agenda of consuming made in Ghana goods and becoming an export-led economy.

“The initiative of IMES today adds to government’s transformation agenda. It is the expectation of the ministry that within the next two years we will be in a position to manufacture most of the transformers in addition to the cables we already manufacture locally.

“We now have the capacity to manufacture all cables used in urban and rural electrification in Ghana. We are also developing the capability to manufacture marine cables for the oil and gas sector,” he said.

The new manufacturing plant is estimated at around US$5million and has the capacity to employ about 250 personnel.