…96,000 houses in Tema in illegal connection
The use of sugar has been identified as one of the major tactics adopted by some unscrupulous Ghanaians to temp electricity meters in the country, an official from Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has told Business Day.
“Despite the success of the pre-payment metering system, Ghana is still believed to loose us much us one quarter of its electricity revenues due to theft complicating efforts to upgrade service,” the source stated.
The source continued: “Those involved in the illegal act normally slip sugar through the slit of the electric meter to distract its spinning dial. Ants get attracted to the sugar and then swap inside the meter and this eventually slow down or even stop the meter from functioning effectively.”
Last week, the Manager in charge of Revenue Protection at the Tema Regional office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ms. Cynthia Kyei Gyamfi has announced that about 96,000 houses within Tema engaged in various forms of illegal connection last year.
She added that within the same period, 97 customers were prosecuted and billed to pay for the power that had been stolen.
Speaking at a meeting with some media houses in Tema, Madam Kyei Gyamfi noted that the most prevalent recorded cases involved meter bypassing and meter tampering.
She said the company was able to recover about six million Ghana cedis out of about nine million one hundred and sixty-eight thousand that had been lost.
She said the level of illegal siphoning of power was realised when the company last year organised a routine house-to-house operation to check on its meters within some parts of the Tema region.
According to her, the exercise formed part of efforts to ensure that customers pay for power they use and are deterred from stealing power.
She said “a report is currently being compiled by the headquarters to come out with a few issues and then we can bounce back to begin the next phase of the operation”
Madam Kyei Gyamfi added that customers who have been found culpable have been given time to pay their bills.
“The bills are such that customers don’t pay them at a go. It is not a mainstream billing so those who are found culpable are given a payment plan to settle their bills”
Electricity theft in South Africa
Apart from Ghana electricity theft is a problem all over the world and utility companies have been struggling to find ways to combat it. In South Africa alone, Eskom, the chief power provider, is believed to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of revenues a year to thieves. Some of the losses are due to non-payment of bills, but a significant amount comes from unauthorized tapping of electricity lines.
Theft of electricity in Africa worsens the shortage by robbing companies of revenue needed for expansion. Sometime the thefts take place with the assistance of employees of electricity companies. Poor service by electricity companies also can fuel resentments that can be expressed through forms of customer protests which include theft or non-payment of bills.
Electricity theft in Uganda
In Uganda for instance, reports say customers are frustrated with an electricity provider who routinely blames high theft for poor service. Last year the government-owned New Vision newspaper published on article by an energy expert who argued thus: ”It is not fair for an innocent power consumer to pay exorbitant tariffs because the service provider has failed to stop thefts.” Efforts to crack down on scofflaws can be difficult.
Electricity theft in Cameroon
In Cameroon, where the U.S. electricity company, AES, is the national provider, raids on organized theft are common. The company’s security officials come prepared to tear down illegal networks and even raid businesses suspected of tapping lines.
Because losses to theft can be so high in some places, some African electricity providers have experimented with pre-paid services, offering a discount to new customers if they agree to accept meters that require an electronic debit card to work. In Ghana the national electricity company was said to have sharply reduced losses due to non-payment of bills by requiring most new customers to accept the pre-pay meters. The pre-payment cards are refilled by paying cash at offices of the electricity company.
By John Kelly
