By Laudia Sawer, GNA
Ada, July 21, GNA – The Ada District Office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has engaged the Ada West, and Ada East District Assemblies on power-related activities in the area.
Mr Isaac Amissah, ECG, Ada District Commercial Officer, during the engagement, indicated that illegal connections were a worrying issue impacting negatively on the finances of the ECG.
He said ECG has initiated an auditing exercise to tackle the problem of illegal connections, explaining that “illegal connections consist of meter tampering, and meter bypassing.
“Engaging in such activities could lead to sanctions including prosecution and debt surcharges, it is, therefore, a risky venture to use power illegally.”
Mr Amissah indicated that it was for that reason that the ECG has given a moratorium to customers to voluntarily visit its offices to report such anomalies before the meter auditing in their districts commences.
According to him, by voluntarily reporting within the period, such customers would not be prosecuted nor have their names published even though they would be required to pay whatever debt that has accrued.
“But after the moratorium, any customer who is found during the auditing to have connected power illegally or has tampered with power and therefore using power illegally would face the law,” Mr. Amissah stated.
The Ada ECG Commercial Officer also advised the public against tampering with ECG installations as it could have dire consequences including death.
He indicated that electric poles, meters, and transformers were the sole properties of the ECG and therefore it is ECG staff alone who could work on them and urged customers to call on the Company to report all issues for the needed solution.
He expressed concern about posting advertisement posters on electric poles, a situation he explained makes it difficult for the pole numbers to be visible to the public.
He said the pole numbers enable officials of the ECG to locate a place and handle faults when the code is mentioned to the office when reporting power related-issues.
Officials of the ECG during the engagement addressed billing issues of customers, which saw the issuance of new copies to those who had issues with their bills while customers with technical challenges with their meters were also resolved.
Mr Godwin Agudey, Presiding Member of Ada East District Assembly, commended the ECG for the education saying as the representatives of the residents, they have become well-informed to explain the challenges and issues the ECG faces in providing power to them.
Mr Philip Tettey Sai, Presiding Member of Ada West District Assembly, also expressed gratitude for the engagement and called for consistent and periodic public sensitizations.
GNA
