The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has cited Chinese firm Tai Heng for allegedly using GH¢62,779.18 worth of power through an illegal connection. The company, according to the ECG, had consumed 120,000 kilowatts of energy through the bypass of its meter over a period of 24 months. The company is located at Achimota and manufactures plastic products, including chairs and bowls. When ECG officials along with members of the press visited the company's premises at about 2:30 pm Thursday, there was no activity; the provider had disconnected the company’s power. Only one Chinese Tai Heng official was present during the visit, but he was unable to communicate in English. David Asamoah, the ECG Divisional Manager in charge of revenue protection, told journalists that his organization discovered the company’s illegal activities after analyzing its power consumption over a two-month period. Further investigations carried out by the ECG, he reported, revealed that the company often connected the power illegally at night. Previous daytime checks had not registered this activity, which he said the EC has discovered only after persistent checks and monitoring. "Normally, when you go there in the day, you don't see anything. However, it was when we got there about 10 pm on Wednesday night that we discovered the act", he said, explaining that the ECG had visited Tai Heng during its routine rounds to monitor companies’ power consumption in its catchment area. He announced that Tai Heng’s manager would be arrested. Apart from paying for the electricity it had consumed, he reported, the company would also have to pay a penalty whose amount would be determined by the ECG. Mr Asamoah said that to deal with the problem of illegal connections, the ECG will this year install automatic meter reading facilities at each company inside and outside the catchment area, which will be monitored remotely from the ECG office. According to him, illegal connections lead to substantial revenue loss on the ECG’s part. Last year alone, the electricity provider recovered GH¢1.4 million from individuals and companies that had engaged in the practice.