The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has explained why some prepaid metres read negative despite owners buying credit.
He has explained that such metres have expired, and just as other electronic gadgets outlive their usefulness, prepaid metres also become obsolete when their period of usage elapse.
Speaking with Keminni Amanor on Hot Issues Sunday, September 08, 2024, Mr. Mahama averred that the metres do have a lifespan of about 10 to 15 years which ought to have been changed after those periods.
However, because the situation has not been so with Ghana, he says the metres expire and run on negative.
“Metres do expire, metres do get obsolete. When we started this prepaid metering agenda in 2003, there should have been a backup plan for replacement of metres every 10 years to 15 years.
“So, it has caught up with us. Right now, we do not have a choice, but some metres just have to, they’ve exhausted their shelf life. For example, you do hear some people complaining that their meters have gone into the negative. They’ve been paying, they’ve been buying, they’ve been buying credits, but all of a sudden now they owe an amount of 30 or 40,000. And it’s because the metre has expired. The metre is not working well. It’s gone obsolete,” he revealed.
When asked if it is only in Ghana that such things happen, Mr. Mahama said “it depends on where you’ve lived before, because I have experienced it before.”
He stated that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) is aware of an ally which requires the ECG to change metres after every 10 years.
“And we also have service level agreements with the metering companies, which made them, we were aware. And even there’s an ally with the PURC that mandates the ECG to replace meters after every 10 years. Because, you know, meters also evolve just like the cell phone.
“For example, the old meters are mechanical in nature. And them being mechanical is also a source of loss of revenue, because something like charging your phone, if it doesn’t read beyond a certain amp, it doesn’t capture into the meter. But luckily for us, with these new meters, every single thing that is consumed, or you leave the plug on in your home, means that what, you are consuming,” he explained.
