Personnel of the Afienya District of the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, discovered that one customer had connected electricity to 33 structures within the same vicinity at Gbetsile, a suburb of Tema in the Greater Accra Region.

The discovery was made as part of the ECG's recent national revenue mobilisation drive, which started on Monday, May 29, 2023, and is expected to end on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Briefing the media, the District Manager for ECG Afienya District, Ing. Daniel Mensah-Asare indicated that as part of the exercise, “we also check on the state of the meters to ensure that they are in good condition and working as they are expected to”.

It was during one of such meter checks that the group discovered that the meter, which had been fixed to one of the structures, had wires connecting to surrounding structures. Further checks revealed that there had been an illegal connection in the form of a meter bypass and so the customer was not paying the right amount for the power consumed.

The owner of the structure fled upon seeing the ECG personnel. However, the meter is located outside his premise and was therefore accessible to the team.

The team engaged some of the residents who claimed to have been paying for the power they were using to the owner of the meter on a monthly basis. Some said they had been paying an average of ¢35 a month for a number of months.

The ECG personnel informed the other residents of the various infractions discovered before disconnecting the supply from the service pole. The service cable was also seized by the company.

A number of residents within the environs had gathered and some had questions for ECG, for which answers were provided.

Another discovery made in the same vicinity had to do with a fake meter and normal ECG meters, which had been moved from their original locations to new structures in Gbetsile, all of which are infractions. 

Ing. Mensah-Asare indicated that the revenue mobilisation and meter integrity checks were going on well, adding that they had not had any resistance from customers.

Yet, he called on customers to ensure that the meters will be accessible to ECG workers whenever necessary.

He also admonished illegal connection, adding that "potential culprits should know that ECG has the mandate to prosecute for illegal connection which could lead to jail term, fine or both".