The installation exercise is a pilot project which is expected to last for three months, after which a decision to roll out the new smart prepaid meters in all the towns in the Suame District would be made.
Mr. George Amoah, Ashanti West Regional General Manager of ECG, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the pilot project was under the Loss Reduction Project (LRP), a flagship project of the ECG.
He noted that among the 200 new smart prepaid meters installed, 150 single-phase prepaid meters had been installed at Asuoyeboah, while 50 three-phase meters were installed at Bantama.
“Under the pilot project, customers with non-smart prepaid meters, faulty prepaid meters and some postpaid meters had their meters replaced for free,” Mr. Amoah said.
Although the Suame District and other five districts had a smart prepaid meter, he said the pilot project was to pave way for the introduction of a dedicated smart prepaid meter for only Suame District.
This was because Suame District had over 120,000 customer population, which is the largest among the eight districts under the Ashanti West Region.
He said it was important to get a dedicated prepaid meter to meet the demands of our customers in the area.
The new smart prepaid meter, according to Mr. Amoah, had a recorder, which recorded every activity done on the meter making it easier for the ECG to detect any illegalities.
Again, he said when the meters were tempered with, the meters automatically went off and disallowed the purchase of prepaid credits to recharge the meters.
To ensure the success of the pilot project to meet the growing demands of the customers in the Suame District, Mr. Amoah said the ECG was keenly monitoring the meters installed.
He assured that customers who had credit on their meters before being replaced will receive their credits on the newly installed smart prepaid meters.
Mr. Amoah mentioned that the introduction of the new smart prepaid meter was in compliance with the Meter Management System (MMS).
This, he noted, allowed customers to buy prepaid credit online without visiting vending points saving money and time.
Additionally, customers will be able to get real-time information on the energy use and purchased at the comfort of their homes due to the User Interface Unit of the meters.
Mr. Amoah disclosed that currently the ECG had cleared all 2024 backlog of meter application for customers in Adum, Ahinsan, Danyame, Kokoben, Abuakwa and Suame districts.
He called on citizens to help curb illegals connections by reporting any illegal activities to the nearest ECG office.
“There is a six percent commission of any amount we recoup as incentive for anyone who gives us reliable information to unearth any illegalities,” Mr. Amoah said.
GNA
