Forty businesses in Tema were in 2018 identified and surcharged by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for stealing power.

Mr Joseph Mensah Forson, General Manager, ECG Tema Region, disclosing this on Thursday, said his outfit with the help of the Ghana Police Service have apprehended the power thieves.

Mr Forson disclosed this during a media encounter organized by the ECG to express gratitude to the media for contributing immersely towards the work of the Company in the region.

According to him, some of the businesses had either paid in full or in part while. Others were yet to settle their surcharges adding that such customers would be pursued through the law courts for the monies to be retrieved.

He indicated that apart from the identification of these businesses, his outfit made some modest achievements with the collective effort of stakeholders through deepened engagements with customers and the media.

He added that there was improvement in its service delivery reliability while staff were resourced and given the needed capacity building to add value to their customer service activities.

Meanwhile, the ECG Tema Region was able to retrieve 2,247 gigawatts units of power translated into GH¢ 2. 2 million from various power thefts.

Mrs Zita Kyei-Gyamfi, Tema Regional ECG Revenue Protection Manager, announcing this said GHs 1.8 million forming 80 per cent of the total figure had so far been paid by the erring customers.

Mrs Kyei-Gyamfi added that 19 of the customers who had refused to pay after being billed with the units they stole, had been referred to court by the legal department of the Company.

She indicated that it was her department’s responsibility to audit all fixed metres to identify any illegalities and other forms of power theft hence their resolve to pursue such recalcitrant persons.

She revealed that the Afienya district topped in the thievery as it had a lot of new settlements whose occupants illegally connected power to their homes.