Roughly 700 fake meters have been discovered by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the Volta Region’s Dabala Junction Checkpoint.
On August 29, 2023, while conducting a comprehensive inspection of a bus traveling from Aflao to Accra, Customs Officers stationed at the Dabala Checkpoint seized these phony meters.
As part of their job, the Customs Officers were investigating the contents in the bus when they discovered these meters concealed within the luggage compartment.
None of the passengers, who were later impounded by the customs agents, admitted to using these phony meters.
The Electricity Company of Ghana, NEDCO, and Ministry of Energy are the only entities authorized to import meters into the country, according to Ms. Christina Jatoe-Kaleo, the ECG General Manager for the Volta Region. Individuals do not have the authority to import meters into the country without a license.
Since these subpar meters are mounted on the company’s backside, Ms. Jatoe-Kaleo stated that the company is cracking down on such false meters. According to her, this behavior is seriously harming the company’s technical and commercial activities.
“Importing meters into the nation and purchasing meters from sources other than ECG are prohibited. We will take all necessary legal action against anyone attempting to use these fraudulent meters to access our network, including anyone who helps them by purchasing or selling those meters.
These subpar meters, according to the general manager, can set customers’ homes on fire.
These foreign meters are not calibrated, thus customers using them are likely to pay greater electricity bills than customers using our standard meters. Our meters are thoroughly tested and calibrated to match the requirements of our country.
“Using such unauthorized metres poses several dangers to the user, other ECG customers and the company. Such dangers include fire outbreaks, overloading and damaging transformers leading to outages and technical losses,” she added.
Ms. Jatoe-Kaleo advised customers to avoid purchasing such metres or dealing with third parties when they need metres and visit the ECG Office for such services.
“With the introduction of the Loss Reduction Program (LRP) and Flat rate policy, we have many options to service our customers anytime they apply for metres, so kindly visit the nearest ECG Office and apply to ensure you are served instead of engaging in the illegal act of purchasing from illegal sources,” she said.
The ECG General Manager called on the general public to assist the company in winning the war against these fake metres to enable the company to gather enough revenue to sustain the electricity supply chain.
“Users of these foreign metres consume electricity illegally without paying and this is not fair to customers who pay their bills. Such individuals usually complain that they are not receiving bills and this is because their metres were obtained and installed illegally without following the process of acquiring metres. We want everyone consuming power to prioritize the payment of bills since it is a patriotic act to pay for electricity consumed,” she added.
She further appealed to customers consuming electricity without paying as a result of such foreign metres, faulty meters or direct connections to take advantage of the moratorium granted during the operation zero exercise by visiting the nearest ECG Office to regularize their supply.
The General Manager called on the general public to assist the company in winning the fight against illegal metres by reporting such people to the Police or any ECG Office and desisting from patronizing them.
“We would like to commend the management of the Ghana Revenue Authority and Customs Division together with other security agencies like the military, national security and Ghana Police Service for supporting the company in the fight against illegal metres”, she said.
Ms Jatoe-Kaleo urged customers to download the ECG PowerApp or use the shortcode *226# to pay all their outstanding bills to enable the company to provide a stable power supply.
