The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has said it cannot be blamed for fast depletion of electricity credits consumers of prepaid meters buy to power their homes and offices.
Some users of the prepaid meters have recently lamented over the speed with which their power runs out.
Some have accused the ECG of deliberately calibrating the meters to force consumers to pay more for electricity.
[contextly_sidebar id=”bsqhCBRpEhuIyEi3Li3eZAVrpF6xZDYS”]The power distributor however explained that it is now using what it described as “smart prepaid meters” which capture up to about 99% of power consumed by users of the prepaid metering system.
According to some consumers, despite the ongoing load shedding exercise, their electricity credit quickly runs out a few days after purchase although there is no constant supply of the power.
Speaking to Citi News, the General Manager for Safety, Health and Environment at the ECG, Ing James Smith-Graham said with the new prepaid meters, the slightest consumption is captured.
This, according to him has helped to reduce the huge loses the company was making saying, “this in a way is to reduce our losses. Formerly, all those unrecorded consumptions were going in as losses.”
“There are smart meters in place now. They are very smart and very accurate,” he remarked.
Smith-Graham clarified that in time past, with the old meters, “consumption can pass without the meter recording but with this new meter, its accuracy is very high and it records every little consumption that goes through.”
He however denied the deliberate calibration of the meters to enable ECG make extra profit.
“We calibrate it the same way across the country,” he said, adding that, “we take it to our meter lab and calibrate it with the same standards…it’s the tariff that changes.”
He rather called on consumers of electricity to use quality cables for wiring and make sure that the earthing is done to prevent leaking of the power they buy which they blame on the ECG most of the time.
“If you don’t do your earthing well, power that otherwise should have been useful to you will rather go waste into the earth,” he advised.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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