Afienya Residents Patronise Meters From Togo, Nigeria

The Afienya District Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Daniel Mensah Asare, has revealed that some unscrupulous persons are using non conforming meters from Togo and Nigeria, in a bid to outwit the system and also avoid the payment of bills.

He however said efforts are underway to clamp down on such users since such meters do not meet the specification of ECG standardized meters.

“We are taking measures together with the police to clamp down on users of those meters since they do not comfort to our standards here,” Mr. Asare noted

Mr. Asare gave the hint on the sidelines of the commissioning of a new business centre at Mataheko in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.

The business centre is to serve about 7,500 customers from 15 adjoining communities within the catchment area.

Mr. Asare added that, about 18,000 meters that were not receiving bills have all been set up, and have been appropriately captured into the ECG system in the area.

He said “the Afienya District being a developing community needed a central place for business hence the choosing of Mataheko for this business centre, and as we speak, we are still engaging some chiefs to get some more lands to be able to get more closer to our customers to be able to provide them with efficient service” he noted.

He said the district is upgrading all the conductors within the Zenu area from a size of 50 aluminum to 120 aluminum, to be able to carry more load. He said they will also be adding some more transformers in the system.

Mr. Asare again noted that, in a bid to extend services to households, there is a massive expansion project currently on-going under the regional supply improvement project within the Appolonia and Katamanso areas, which is targeted at getting everyone connected to the grid.

The Director of Audit at ECG, Emmanuel Ntow, who read a speech on behalf of the MD, noted that ten other business centres have been built across the country at a cost of 6.4 million Ghana cedis.

Following the modernization projects being embarked on by the company to ensure efficiency in its business, he added that, mobile phone short-codes will soon be introduced to enable customers to receive bills and vital maintenance information directly by SMS or via e-mails.

Mr. Ntow further noted that “we have started a massive disconnection exercise and issuance of demand notices to all defaulting customers.

He said the names of recalcitrant customers who fail to pay their debts owed the company would soon be published in the dailies and announced on radio.

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By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana