Hundreds of residents Thursday morning poured onto the major streets of Tamale to register their displeasure at the installation of pre-paid meters on their premises by officials of the Volta River Authority (VRA). Clad in red apparel and holding tree branches, the demonstrators danced to gong-gong beats and displayed placards some of which read, "We do not like the new meters"; "Take your faulty meters away"; and "Your gargantuan meters are dissipating our incomes." They insisted that the VRA, as a matter of urgency, should remove all the new meters. They claimed that the VRA did not consult them as major stakeholders before installing the meters and described the action by the power provider as unilateral. The residents later presented a petition to the Northern Regional Coordinating Director, Mr Alhassan Issahak, who promised to send their grievances to the right quarters for the necessary attention as the regional minister was not readily available. Most residents have also complained about the frequent rate at which they purchased credit for power and claimed that either the new meters were faulty or the consumers were being short-changed. The Human Resource Manager of VRA, Mr John Teye however denied all the charges and claimed that before the installation exercise, his outfit had sensitised the people to its usage. "We even went as far to the mosques to inform the people," he said. "The truth about the matter is that with this new meter, consumers cannot do any by-pass to steal power lest there would be no reason for the change of the meters," he maintained. According Mr Teye, "with the old meters people could buy power for GH¢50 and use it for over six months because of the by-pass". He further advised the consumers to exercise maximum restraint and to contact the management for verification and redress of the difficulties they might be encountering with the new system.