About 39 residential and commercial users of electricity have been arrested at Nungua, Accra by officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for stealing power.
This was after a special revenue protection taskforce comprising the police and some engineers of the company embarked on a house-to-house exercise to check those engaged in illegal activities.
In all about 1,320 houses and shops were visited within the Nungua Municipality out of which the 39 suspects were arrested for by-passing the meters and connecting to the national grid.
Engineer Michael Kwesi Okai, acting General Manager of Revenue Protection of ECG, said the suspects, with the help of some unscrupulous persons, by-passed the meters and used electricity without making payment to the ECG.
The company, he said, had lost millions of Ghana cedis as a result of the nefarious activities of the suspects.
Others also tampered with the wires of the meters and used electricity freely.
The culpable residents had their meters inside their buildings instead of the poles.
He said on June 23, 2016 when the Task Force embarked on the same exercise at Tema Community 8, about 1,640 houses were visited with 22 illegal connections detected.
The suspects used a total of about 3,814 kilowatts of power which amounted to GH¢41,316.
The suspects, who have been charged, have paid a total of GH¢11,608 to the company, leaving a remaining amount of GH¢31,357.
They have also been referred to the legal directorate of the company for prosecution.
The special exercise, launched in Accra last year, has led to the recovery of over GH¢31 million.
For the first quarter of this year, the company retrieved a total of GH¢8.7 million cedis through the exercise.
Management of company said it would extend the exercise to 23 districts across the country in order to prosecute offenders for power theft.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey