In order to improve revenue collection and to check power theft, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Eastern Region embarked on revenue mobilisation in the 14 operational areas of the region last Friday.

The activity is part of a national monthly campaign exercise to enable officers of the ECG to fish out defaulting customers, as well as those who have engaged in illegal connection.

ECG staff Officers moved from house to house and offices in various districts including, Koforidua, Suhum, Tafo, Kibi, Asamankese, and Oda to check for people who owed them and to sensitise customers on the negative impact that illegal activities had on the operations of the company.

Briefing the press during the exercise, the Eastern Regional Manager of the ECG, Mr. Michael Baah, explained that the company was still faced with the challenge of some unscrupulous persons who had found ways to steal power from the company.

He said their activities were costing his outfit millions of cedis, adding that the exercise would enable the company to curtail the menace and discover such unscrupulous persons, “so that we can retrieve debts owed by customers to enable ECG to enhance its operations.”

Mr. Baah said the exercise which had been launched in the region last Friday would be organised every last Friday of the month for officers to round homes to unearth some of these illegalities.

“We are therefore sending a strong warning to people; to these unscrupulous people engaged in power theft to desist from such activities,” he explained.

“When found culpable, you will be punished accordingly because we would hand you over to the law enforcement agencies to deal with you,” he warned.

Mr. Baah urged residents living in the districts to report persons who were involved in illegal connections in the various communities to the nearest ECG office or call task-force via 0551444011 to inform them.

He assured that informants who would report such illegalities to the ECG would receive a commission of six per cent of the amount surcharged upon confirmation of crime.

“We also assure that their safety is guaranteed because we will not disclose our source of information and their safety is important to us,” he said.

The Eastern Regional Manager of ECG said he was confident that his officers would arrest some defaulters and, therefore, appealed to the media to help his outfit in such exercise to rid the country of the defaulters and save the huge amounts lost as a result of illegal connections.

FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN