A 54-year-old electrician has been arrested by the Revenue Protection Taskforce of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for installing illegal meters and extorting money from customers.

John Fofie was arrested in his hideout at Kunsu in the Ahafo-Ano South-West District of the Ashanti region.

Police retrieved eight fake electricity meters embossed with the ECG logo during a search of his house.

His arrest comes at the time ECG’s Revenue Protection Taskforce has been ruthless with customers who owe the power company in electricity bills and engaged in illegal connections.

Out of the ¢5.7 billion owed by electricity consumers nationwide, the Ashanti region accounts for ¢1.2 billion, representing 21 per cent of the debt owed.

The task force, whilst on an operation at Kunsu on April 4, 2023, detected some fake meters installed by the suspect at Kunsu and its environs.

The suspect, John Fofie supplied the meters to ECG customers who tried to evade payment of bills arrears.

His lid was blown when the task force stormed the residence of a customer whose power supply was disconnected for unpaid electricity bills of ¢11,000 which had accumulated for over a four-year period.

A few days after power was cut, the landlord was approached by Fofie who then installed the fake meter and restored power to the household.

Further investigations led to the arrest of the suspect in his hideout, where the police also retrieved eight fake meters from his house.

Police are on the lookout for more accomplices.

Fofie and his gang are said to have photocopies of ECG  moratorium forms, introduced by the company to allow customers who have fake electricity meters to get new but ECG-approved meters.

Though the grace period for the exercise expired in December 2022, investigations revealed the forms are backdated to suit the whims and caprices of the fake meter gang.

“They charge between ¢1000 and ¢2500. And this is very serious because they abandon the ECG meter, number 2, these meters, we don’t even know them; we can’t bill them,” Kofi Danso, Ashanti  Regional Revenue Protection Manager said of the nefarious activities of Fofie and his gang.

Ashanti Regional Revenue Protection Manager, Kofi Danso told journalists the installation of fake meters by unscrupulous persons like Fofie who tamper with ECG systems is very common in the Ashanti region, especially at the Race Course Market.

A recent swoop led to the arrest of 50 traders who had the power to have their stalls disconnected for installing fake meters.

“I have a lot of cases. It is very common at the Race Course Market. They installed install these meters. At Race Course alone more than 50 customers were using these fake meters”.

The development, according to Mr Danso has caused the power company several millions of Ghana cedis in revenue.

According to Mr Danso, the task force will leave no stone unturned in its quest to block all revenue leakages, including dealing with illegal connections and fake meters.

At least, ¢50 million has been retrieved from customers who owe ECG in the region as of March 31, 2023.