Chinese firm cited for illegal connection

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has cited a Chinese company, Tai Heng, for allegedly engaging in illegal connection of power to the tune of GHc 62,779.18.

The company, according to the ECG, had over a period of 24 months, consumed 120,000 kilowatts of energy through the bypass of its meter.

The company is located at Achimota and manufactures plastic products, including chairs and bowls.

When ECG officials and the media visited the company's premises about 2:30 pm yesterday, there was no activity. It was also realised that the ECG had disconnected power to the company following the illegal act.

Only one Chinese official of the company was present during the visit.

He could, however, not communicate in English.
The Divisional Manager in charge of revenue protection, Mr David Asamoah, told journalists that the illegal activity of the company was discovered after an analysis was done on the consumption of power by the company over a two-month period.

He said further checks carried out by the ECG revealed that the company often connected the power illegally in the night, saying checks made during, the day did not reveal anything.

He, however, said it was after persistent checks and monitoring that the practice was uncovered.

"Normally when you go there in the day, you don't see anything. However, it was when we got there about 10 pm. on Wednesday night that we discovered the act", he said.

Mr Asamoah said the discovery was also made during the routine rounds by the ECG to monitor consumption of power by companies in its catchment area.

The manager of the company, he said, would be arrested.

Apart from the payment of the electricity consumed, he said, the company would also be made to pay a penalty to be computed by the ECG.

Mr Asamoah said to deal with the problem of illegal connections, the ECG would install an automatic meter reading (AMR) facility at each company in and outside the catchment area this year which would be monitored from the ECG office.

According to him, illegal connections were causing the ECG so much in revenue loss and indicated that last year alone the company recovered GHc1.4 million from individuals and companies that had indulged in illegal connections.