Ing. Emmanuel Ankomah
The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) FM—a community radio station at Fotobi, near Nsawam—has been disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for stealing power.
The station, which operates on the frequency 105.9 MHz, illegally bypassed some high-consuming gadgets, making it impossible for the meter on their premises to read consumption of those gadgets.
A team of technical staff who visited the station’s premises discovered that connections to several gadgets, including the station’s transmitter and air-conditioners, were not being read through the meter due to an illegal bypass connection.
The acting General Manager of the Accra West Region of the ECG, Engineer Ankomah Emmanuel, warned the public to desist from engaging in illegal electricity connection and power theft since these deprive the company of needed revenue to pay power producers and improve supply to communities.
“We became suspicious after examining the billing records of FAWE FM. A team of technical investigators sent to verify the condition of the electrical connections to their facility discovered that the meter only recorded power consumptions of computers and lights,” he disclosed.
The station has since been disconnected and surcharged GH¢35,000 for the period of unpaid power and the illegal connection.
The Managing Director of ECG, Kwame Agyeman-Budu, earlier announced a new campaign dubbed: ‘If you see something, say something, and say it now’. The campaign is aimed at encouraging everyone to report incidents of illegal connections in homes, offices and institutions.
“We have put in place measures to protect the identity of all informants, and we will pay six per cent of the penalty amount to the informant once the report is verified,” he said.
The campaign is due for a national launch by the end of the first quarter of this year.
ECG is on a massive drive to reduce its system losses by identifying and punishing persons who are using power for free.