The Electricity Company of Ghana has arrested 21 people in the Ashanti Region for illegally using power.
The raid, conducted by a combined team of staff from ECG and the police, rounded up 17 people from the Danyame District and four from the Suame District.
Those arrested will be arraigned before court for prosecution.
Mr. Harrison Yakubu Musah, Danyame District head of ECG, said the 17 customers arrested in Danyame owed the company about GH₵200,000. Their electricity connections were disconnected for defaulting payment, but they did an illegal reconnection without the knowledge of the company.
He revealed that electricity consumers in the Danyame District alone owe the company about GH₵18 million between 2014 and now.
Mr. Musah lamented that such illegal activities were part of the major revenue leakages depriving the company of huge sums of money.
The public relations manager of ECG in the Ashanti Region, Mr Felix K. Baido, in an interview with The Finder, stated that the operation is part of a revenue mobilisation drive embarked upon by the company to recover debts owed by individuals and organisations, and also to clamp down on illegal power consumers.
According to him, the operations will be conducted in all the districts in the region from now till the end of the year.
Members of the taskforce inspect homes and workplaces during the day and night to ascertain the nature of electricity connection and state of meters.
Mr Baido warned the general public that ECG will investigate and prosecute anybody, including ECG officers, who indulge in illegal electricity connections and other related fraudulent activities.
He advised the general public against illegal connection, saying it does not only cause huge financial loss to the company but is also a threat to the lives of residents.
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