We are dealing with use of fake meters by some customers – ECG MD

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is confident of having a proper energy accounting and audit system after completing the metering of all its 35,000 transformers though the ‘‘know your customer drive’’ initiative using the unique QR codes.

According to the Managing Director of the company, Samuel Dubik Mahama, the illegal sale, purchasing and distribution of fake meters have been of concern to the power distributor for a while.

The ECG reports that there are many meters out there in people’s homes that do not belong to company and the ‘‘know your customer drive’’ initiative is what the company seeks to use in addressing the canker.

Answering questions before the Public Accounts Committee on August 12, Mr Mahama said the existence of fake meters is one of the challenges the company is facing.

He assured that investigations are ongoing in collaboration with the security agencies to clamp down on perpetrators and prosecute them.

“We are very aware. We even intercepted a whole truck of fake meters coming in from Togo which has been handed over to the police. As for the issue of meters we are doing our best to put together teams. To that extent, we even set up a directorate called the investigations and prosecutions directorate.

“They have the core mandate to work with the police and judiciary to prosecute these matters to the fullest and so far, we are doing what we can do but we still know that a lot more needs to be done. There are meters out there that does not belong to the ECG. So there are people consuming power that we do not know of. This is what led us to do the ‘‘know your customer drive’’ where we are tagging each and every customer with a Unique QR code which is linked to the wood pole, the meter and the transformer where the power is given to you.

“This distribution transformers, we have already started metering them. There are about 35,000 in all the ECG zone. We are vigorously metering all of them. So far, we are almost about 2,500 deep into that. This will lead to proper energy accounting and audit. So the sooner we get the requisite capital investment into ECG, the quicker we will know the viability of the state entity,” Mr Mahama said.

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