The hassle and exorbitant costs paid by energy consumers to acquire Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) meters could end with the assumption of office of John Jinapor as Energy Minister.
Officially, ECG meters are not for sale, but clients pay other service charges to have meters installed at their facilities to use power.
Despite the arrangements, customers are compelled to pay middlemen to secure meters due to constant shortages and the cumbersome processes involved in getting a meter.
The development has given way to the emergence of fraudsters and syndicates, some involving corrupt staff of ECG and contractors hired by the power distributor who fleeces customers.
There have been numerous reports and complaints, with a separate meter that costs a little over GH¢800 cedis being sold by these individuals as high as GH¢2,500 cedis.
To end the perennial challenge, Energy Minister-designate John Abdulai Jinapor has suggested the procurement of meters on a large scale to reduce the cost and officially sell to consumers at cheaper rates.
When he appeared before Parliament’s Appointment Committee for Vetting on Monday, January 13, Mr. Jinapor offered a solution.
“People want meters (but) they are unable to get the meters. Technology is advancing, so we are exploring the possibility of selling the meters. Let people buy the metres, but through smart technology, we will license some people to install the metres, but you will need to send a code. Once you send the code, mobile money is activated, and automatically you are registered onto the system because sometimes it costs people more than 4 and 5 times to spend money to get the meter,” he explained.
“So, if you make it readily available and use economies of scale, I am sure the price will come down. So it is something we are considering.”.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jinapor disclosed that more than half of the installed meters in the system are not functional and require total replacement to enhance revenue generation.
He revealed that ECG had 5.2 million meters with 4.8 million active.
However, “about 3 million of them are not working properly, so they will need to change a minimum of 2.9 million meters in order to satisfy the market.