Man arrested for selling electricity meters in V/Region
A man who illegally sold more than 100 Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) meters to some residents of Dzodze, in the Ketu North District, has been arrested by the Aflao police.
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Gilbert Edo Abefa was arrested following a monitoring exercise conducted by the Revenue Protection Unit (RPU) of the ECG in the area on July 22, 2016.
The accused, who is currently in police custody after the Aflao Circuit Court had refused him bail, is being held on a charge of distributing meters and supplying electricity without lawful authority.
Investigations
Investigations by the police revealed that about 95 meters had been installed since April 2016.
In connivance with electricians in the town, Abefa allegedly sold the meters at prices ranging from GH¢300.00 to GH¢450.00.
Residents who purchased those meters included people who required new services and others whose power supply had been disconnected by the ECG for non-payment of bills.
The action of the accused is said to have denied the company an amount of about GH¢40,000 which would have been paid by customers for new service connections alone.
Abefa, who would reappear before the Aflao Circuit Court on July 29, claimed an ECG contractor, Mr Kassamah, had employed him to sell the meters.
Exercise
According to the head of ECG’s Revenue Protection Unit in the Volta Region, Richard Bavor, while on their regular exercise to identify and rid the system of illegal connections, the team was alerted by some Good Samaritans to a number of installed meters which had not been captured by the ECG.
“The high number of uncaptured meters we initially saw made us suspicious, and so we decided to conduct further investigations to determine the source of those meters,” he said.
With the help of residents of the town, Mr Bavor said they identified the meters which the owners were using to consume electricity without payment.
He said the company had since begun capturing the meters for billing.
Advice
The Volta Regional General Manager of the ECG, Mr Joseph Forson, expressed appreciation to the police for their support and advised customers to deal directly with the district offices of the company in their transactions to avoid any embarrassment or being swindled by miscreants.
