The Ghana Standards Board (GSB) has attributed the overpayment by some prepaid customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as a result of the new utility tariffs, to the failure of the board to calibrate the meters as the law requires. Calibration involves using a reference standard to determine the level of accuracy of a measuring device but the ECG's failure to adhere to this regulation would have consumers of electricity continuing to pay more than they consume. "The utility supplier, in this case the ECG, has its own system of calibration but the law requires a recognized third party to ensure fairness, since the utility body cannot be a player and a referee at the same time," the Head of the Public Affairs Unit of the GSB, Mr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako, told the Daily Graphic, in apparent reference to the admission by the ECG of its error when customers complained about overpayment of bills as published in the August 22, 20I0 edition of the Daily Graphic. The Weight and Measures Decree 1975 (NRCD 326) empowers the GSB to carry out calibration activities in relation to all measuring devices in the country. Mr Amponsah-Bediako said for fairness to be ensured between the supplier and the consumer, and particularly for the fact that prepaid meters were measuring devices, they needed first of all to be calibrated before their installation in homes and cautioned that the upcoming exercise to have ministries, departments and agencies to use prepaid meters could be undermined if they were not calibrated before their eventual installation. He expressed the belief that if the ECG had allowed the GSB to calibrate its meters before their installation, their credibility with regard to accuracy in measurement would not have been in doubt, noting that since that was not done, consumer complaints had become the order of the day "and probably genuinely so because they are paying more than expected". According to Mr Amponsah-Bediako, the high amount in bills consumers -paid was either due to fact that the meters were not reading accurately or the calculation of the amount to be paid per unit consumed had been overrated, hence the need for the calibration to ensure credibility and acceptance. He said under normal circumstances before the EGG imported meters into the country, the, GSB should be informed of the type of meters to enable the latter to issue what is known as "Pattern Approval'; (that is, determining whether the product 'is suitable for, the Ghanaian system) to the ECG and expressed worry at the failure or delay of the ECG to respond to the board's request via numerous correspondence to collaborate to have the right thing done. The Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Protection Agency; Mr Kofi Kapito, in a separate interview, supported the GSB's call for prepaid meters to be calibrated and stressed the need for the Energy Commission to spearhead that campaign .. He said he had never supported the. use of prepaid meters in the country, since it_ benefited only the ECG, while consumers continued to be short-changed.