A 34-year-old mason is standing trial for allegedly reconnecting power to his house after he had been disconnected twice by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He is alleged to have stolen power worth more than GH¢7,000.
The accused person, Joseph Kanitey, a resident of Kwabenya, near Accra, has been charged with intentionally interfering with power, stealing power and unlawfully damaging an ECG distribution cable valued at GH¢400. After his charges were read to him in court, he pleaded guilty to the first two counts and not guilty to the last count.
Based on his plea, the District Utility Court in Accra, presided over by Mr Wolanyo Kotoku, levied a fine of 60 penalty units, representing GH¢720, for the first count and GH¢500 for the second.
The case was adjourned to April 30, 2016 where the trial on the third count is expected to continue.
Facts of the case
The Manager in charge of Prosecutions at the ECG, Mr Paul Assibi Abariga, told the court that Kanitey was arrested on January 15, 2016 by some officials of the Revenue Protection Unit of the ECG during their regular field investigations.
He said the ECG officials detected that Kanitey, who had been disconnected earlier for non-payment of electricity bills, had reconnected the power directly into his room, bypassing the meter in the compound house.
Kanitey, he said, was disconnected by the ECG and served with a summons letter to report at the ECG office but he failed to do so.
Subsequently, Mr Abariga said the whole house was disconnected from the main electricity pole, but the other tenants were advised to rewire the house to ensure that Kanitey was left out.
Aggrieved Kanitey is said to have engaged the services of an electrician who terminated power supply to the house, thereby damaging the cable from the pole to the house.
Mr Abariga said Kanitey was billed GH¢7,547,78 and had since paid GH¢4,000 out of the amount.
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