The Ghana Police Service has dismissed claims of power theft and illegal connections at the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station.
According to the Police, the payment of electricity bills is centrally managed and not directly paid for by individual police officers or commands. Owing to this, it explained that there is no incentive for the Service or any of its officers to steal electricity as alleged.
Commenting on the allegations of power theft and illegal connections as reported in sections of the media, the police in a statement revealed that it set in motion for an investigation to be conducted by the Police Administration into the matter.
“Our investigation revealed that at the Osu Barracks, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) disconnected three buildings because they had no electricity meters. A similar situation happened in Kumasi, where one building was disconnected because it didn’t have its dedicated meter. Checks from our records indicate that the situation at both the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station has existed for some years now.
Ghana Police Service
The Police indicated that investigation further established that all the connections at the Osu barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station were done by the ECG directly to the poles since the ECG had indicated that it did not have any meters available at the time. In both instances, it noted that the connections were done by officials of the ECG.
‘We would therefore like to call on the public to disregard the false claims of power theft and illegal connections levelled against the Police since there is no basis for the allegations.”
Ghana Police Service
Outcome of investigations into alleged power theft
Following the investigation, the Police stated that at the insistence of the Inspector-General of Police, a meeting was held with the management of ECG where the outcome of the investigation to the effect that the police had not been involved in illegal connection or power theft was made known to them. This, it highlighted, was accepted by ECG who expressed regret about the situation.
Furthermore, the police revealed that the investigation, and prior to the meeting, all Police Regional Commands were directed to officially invite and work with ECG officials within their areas of operation to reexamine all existing electricity connections and metering in all Police facilities across the country including the possibility of installing bulk meters instead of individual meters for each building as has been the case over the years.
Prior to this, the Managing Director for the Electricity Company of Ghana, Samuel Dubik Mahama, revealed that customers caught engaging in power theft will be forced to pay for what they have stolen and will be prosecuted in addition. He made this statement on the alleged stealing of electricity by managers of the Hillburi hotel in Aburi in the Eastern Region.
According to officials of the ECG, the hotel has enjoyed electricity illegally for years until ECG engineers uncovered the unauthorized connection during a search on the premises of the hotel in the course of the week. The perpetrators were arraigned on April 1.
Mr Mahama noted that while the ECG has presented the hotel with a bill to be paid, the prosecution will still go forward as planned. He explained that this is to serve as a deterrent to others who are engaged in power theft.
Mr Mahama has announced a one-month ultimatum for consumers who are engaged in power theft to right their wrongs. He indicated that at the end of the month-long grace period, consumers caught in the act will be made to face the full rigors of the law.
