The Ashaiman District of the Electricity Company of Ghana has discovered a total of 130 illegal connections within its operational area over a three day period.

The discoveries, which were part of a revenue mobilisation project the district was embarking on was started on Monday, March 4, 2024.

Speaking on the progress of the activities to media professionals, the Manager for the District, Ing. Kissi Ohenebeng mentioned that "with the 130 illegal connections seen, summons were given to the respective customers who started reporting to the office from Tuesday, March 5, 2024, to rectify the issues identified."

He added that "over the three days that the project had been ongoing, his outfit, with support from a number of staff from eight other districts as well as the regional office of the Tema Region of the company had been able to visit over 5000 customers of the power distributor".

Ing. Ohenebeng, when asked about possible prosecution of those caught with illegal connections indicated that "indeed should customers default in payments, the company is always ready to explore the possibility of addressing the situation at the court".

He further added that "illegal connection is basically stealing, which makes it a criminal offence and admonished customers to desist from such acts as the consequences could be unpleasant."

The Ashaiman District of the ECG is under the Tema Region, which also has Tema North, Tema South, Afienya, Prampram, Ada, Nungua, Juapong, Krobo Districts. Staff were deployed from all over the region to Ashaiman District to support the special revenue mobilisation exercise.

The Acting General Manager of the ECG Tema Region, Ing. Daniel Asare-Mensah on his part, encouraged customers to "be ready to pay for power consumed and to pay on time to avoid debt build up."

Ing. Asare-Mensah indicated that the Ashaiman exercise would end by close of day Friday, March 8, 2024, while a similar project with support from the region's workforce will be replicated in the other districts.

He also indicated that the Afienya and Prampram Districts will be the next to run such special revenue mobilisation exercises.