The Director of Communications at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), William Boateng, has revealed that a significant number of meters in use across the country are not captured in the company’s digital system, contributing to revenue losses.
Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show, Mr. Boateng attributed the issue partly to outdated or legacy meters and also to past electrification projects implemented without ECG’s involvement.
“There are many meters in the system that don’t go through our network. Some of these meters have been in use for over 10 years. Every meter has its lifespan and efficiency level, and after a period, they become outdated,” he said.
He noted that ECG is currently introducing about 10 new types of smart meters, which are compliant with the Meter Management System (MMS).
These smart meters, he noted, are modern and communicate directly with ECG’s servers and control centres.
“These new smart meters make life easier for customers. You no longer need to walk to our offices to pay your bills—you can pay from your phone using our app. That’s the direction we’re going now: cashless transactions,” he stated.
Mr. Boateng clarified that while some of the new meters are still prepaid, not all qualify as smart meters.
Nonetheless, the company is building a robust database to ensure all smart meters are digitally mapped and monitored.
Despite these improvements, he admitted that “there are still hundreds of meters in the system that are not on ECG’s digital map.”
According to him, a major factor behind the missing data is the history of self-help electrification projects that bypassed ECG’s processes.
“Years ago, many communities undertook self-help electrification projects through contracts from the Ministry. Most of the time, local assembly members, believing their party was in power, would take charge of these projects without involving ECG, ” he explained.
He said that as a result, ECG was left without data on where meters were installed or how many were in use.
“We were blind to those installations. These meters weren’t captured in our system, and that has created a big gap.
“When that happens, we start realising revenue losses. People use power for years without paying, and later, we’re notified. We then send our mappers to survey the area, locate the meters, and collect the necessary data,” he added.
Mr. Boateng conceded that this lack of coordination and data collection has significantly contributed to ECG’s revenue losses.
“If meters are not on our system, we can’t monitor them,” he disclosed.
Touching on electricity theft, he confirmed that some individuals are indeed illegally using electricity.
“We admit that people are stealing from us. But any time we catch them, we retrieve the money. Over the years, we’ve worked to identify and correct some of these illegal connections. We count them as losses, but we’re actively working to resolve the issue,” he stated.
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