Stealing of electricity through illegal connection with careless abandon is on the increase in the Afienya District, Zita Kyei-Gyamfi, Revenue Protection Manager for Tema Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited, has said.
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She blamed the thievery on greed and irresponsibility especially because most of the customers in the area consume more electricity than they can pay.
And so out of 40 businesses and individuals the Tema Revenue Protection Unit of ECG identified as engaged in consuming electricity through foul means in 2018, 19 have been put in the dock.
Albeit she declined to mention the 19 suspects, Mrs Kyei-Gyamfi told Awakenewsonline these were individuals and businesses that had refused to accept responsibility for their thievery and, thus, failed to pay for the power they stole, after the ECG had surcharged them accordingly.
The rest were complying with the terms of payment, after they were surcharged for their illegalities.
So far, the ECG had been able to recover GHȻ1,794,352, out of a total GHȻ2,242,940, representing 2.247GWh of power stolen in 2018 by customers.
Among the businesses the ECG grabbed for allegedly stealing power in 2018 included Subin Valley Hotel, Step One Drinking Spot, New York Spot and T-Havana, and this was during an unannounced night operation the ECG carried out with the Tema police.
Mrs Kyei-Gyamfi said her outfit would continue its unannounced night operations including weekends, when most customers think the ECG does not work, thereby, engage in illegal connections.
Story by Umar Sheriff / AwakeNewsOnline.com
