The Electricity Company of Ghana office in the Ashanti West operational region has surcharged some 2248 customers for engaging in illegal connections in 2025.

A total unit of 3,018,561.10 kilowatt-hour (kWh), representing an amount of 5,812,727.06 cedis, was recovered from such customers.

The company says 4,388,264.59 cedis out of the total surcharged amount has been recovered with strategies put in place to recover the outstanding figures.

The illegal connections were discovered during a day-and-night monitoring exercise, which saw the Revenue Protection team of the company visit some 8182 customers.

These included hotels, households, hostels, cold stores, restaurants and some institutions to fish out customers who had connected to the national grid illegally and using power for free.

The exercise was conducted in Bantama, Denkyemuoso, Kwadaso Estate, Suame, Kronum, Ahenema Kokoben, Brofoyedru and Atonsu.

This exercise forms part of the power distribution company’s broader efforts to reduce commercial losses through power theft across its operational areas and gather enough revenue to sustain the electricity supply chain in the country.

General manager of ECG-Ashanti West, Ing. George Amoah, says the exercise audited electricity connections, checked the integrity of meters and service cables used by customers.

“Some of the illegalities uncovered during this exercise include meter bypass, unauthorized and direct connections and meter tampering,” he noted.

He bemoaned the ripple effects of illegal connections on the revenue mobilization activities of the company.

He explained such illicit activities crippled the company's efforts to embark on projects, aimed at enhancing service delivery that will inure to the benefit of customers.

“As a company, we have to pay our suppliers like GRIDCO, VRA and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) when we purchase power from them to distribute to our cherished customers, hence consuming power illegally prevents the company from getting money to pay these key players in the electricity supply chain”, he added.

He continued that: “When people connect to the national grid illegally, it overloads our transformers and leads to low voltage and interruption of power supply to our cherished customers”.

The company is cautioning the public to desist from illegal connections, which is a criminal act as the ECG vows to prosecute offenders in accordance with Executive Instrument (EI) 38 of the Appointment of Public Prosecution Instrument (2010).
“Illegal connection is a very dangerous act that can cause fire outbreaks and the loss of life through electrocution,” he said.

The ECG is entreating the public to help in the fight against illegal connection by reporting such individuals to their office.

Ing. Amoah further admonished customers not to tamper with their meters or engage third party electricians which they encounter electricity challenges.

The Ashanti West Region has eight (8) operational districts namely: Abuakwa, Adum, Ahinsan, Bibiani, Danyame, Kokoben, Offinso and Suame Districts.

Commercial Manager for Ashanti West Region, Jonathan Asante, also advised customers to prioritize the payment of bills and purchasing prepaid and not consume power illegally

The company also announced renewed efforts to clamp down on illegal and fake meters in 2026.

“We have observed that some people owing ECG remove their meters and go for fake or illegal meters in an attempt to avoid paying their bills. This year, our team will intensify monitoring to clamp down on such activities and customers identified will be surcharged accordingly," Ing. Frank Mensah, Revenue Protection Manager for the region, said.