FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
Two suspects have been arrested at Kwesimintsim, a suburb of the Effia Kwesimintsim municipality in the Western Region, for allegedly supplying illegal power to residents.
According to the Western Regional Directorate of the Power Distribution Service (PDS), the suspects provided false details to unsuspecting officials when they acquired meters from the office.
Benjamin Okai and Gabriel Akpabli, both aged 34, are in the custody of the Kwesimintsim police for further investigation and prosecution.
Briefing the Ghanaian Times on Sunday, the Revenue Protection Manager for PDS, Mr John Quayson-Dadzie, recalled that on Tuesday, April 2, a monitoring team visited a cold store at Kwesimentsim and realised the smart meter registered for residential use, was being used for commercial purposes, in a wrong geographical zone.
Smart meters, he explained, were able to detect any form of irregularities.
The owner of the cold store (named withheld), who had illegally diverted power to her facility, upon interrogation, said that Benjamin Okai, an electrician, assisted her to acquire the meter.
Mr Quayson-Dadzie said the cold store operator cooperated with the PDS team to arrest Okai, who mentioned Gabriel Akpabli, also an electrician, as his ‘supplier.’
“Checks revealed that Akpabli used to work with Savior Electricals, a third party farming-out contractor, commissioned to draw new services and provide separate meters for customers of the Power Distribution Services, Ghana,” he revealed to the Ghanaian Times.
He said that Akpabli took advantage of his association with Savior Electricals to access a smart meter for a separate meter connection, and diverted it to Okai to be fixed at the cold store.
According to Mr Quayson-Dadzie, an inspection of receipts revealed that the diversion was executed in September 2018.
The General Manager of PDS, Western Region, Mr Anokye Abebreseh, advised prospective customers and the public to desist from engaging unauthorised persons to acquire service connection from the company.
“Our system has become very friendly to the extent that it will take you less than five days to acquire service connection to your facility,” he stated, assuring that there was a reward for people who helped PDS to arrest illegal consumers of electrical power.
PIC Gabriel Akpabli (left) and accomplice Benjamin Okai
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
