The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has responded to complaints by some of its consumers that the prepaid credits they load on their meters run out fast.
According to the consumers, despite the ongoing electricity rationing (load shedding) exercise, their electricity credit quickly runs out a few days of use although there is no constant supply of power.
Some consumers have accused the ECG of manipulating the prepaid meters in such a way that the credit runs out with minimal use in order to improve the company’s revenue.
But in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the General Manager for Safety, Health and Environment at the ECG, Mr James Smith-Graham, said the ECG had not manipulated electricity meters in any way.
According to him, electricity credits do not last as they used to because the ECG has introduced what he called smart prepaid meters, which he said captures up to about 99% of power consumed by users of the prepaid metering system.
Mr Smith-Graham said: “There are smart meters in place now. They are very smart and very accurate.”
He said consumption could pass through the old meters with being recorded, but the new meter records very accurately, adding that “it records every little consumption that goes through”.
Mr Smith-Graham added that in some cases, people’s pre-paid credits run out very quickly not because of the new meters, but because they have poor wiring systems at home, which leads to loss of consumption.
He, therefore, called on consumers of electricity to use quality cables for wiring and make sure that their earthing is properly done to prevent leaking of the power they buy.
“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 said.
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