The discovery by the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) of more than 3000 illegal meters being used in Sunyani in the Bono Region is no news, so to speak.
There are countless media reports on the use of illegal meters for both electricity and water, some of which are even prosecuted yet the problem persists.
This means there is a fundamental problem that must be addressed and that problem is the process of acquiring the meter.
The challenges inherent in the process must be blamed on the utility providers, not forgetting that getting a meter from the Ghana Water Company is also bedeviled with the same bureaucratic and chaotic process.
It is unfortunate that officials of these companies would readily deny any knowledge of how some people, including their own workers, are exploiting the bureaucratic nature of the meter acquisition process to do their own thing.
Most of the time, it is desperation or frustration that makes the customer agree to the assistance of a middleman or a third party in the acquisition of the meter for the use of electricity or water.
Why should people suffer to acquire whatever meters in the first place?
We believe it should be the joy of utility providers that their customers want to be metered because they would enjoy the benefits more than the customers.
Because they can resort to law to take their customers to task, the utility company are sleeping and NEDCo is no exception.
Do they need only tip-offs to go to town?
We cannot accept that they have made it as part of their field work to regularly ascertain the integrity of meters otherwise it should not take long to uncover the first few illegal meters and deal with them before the number can grow.
Whether it is the fault of the customer or not, the companies must not forget the dishonesty in the Ghanaian system and act based on suspicion regularly rather in swoops or operations.
We think regular check and strict application of the law are the only ways to put to rest the issue of illegal meters in the system.
If this cannot be done, then that can give the cause to the public to speculate and even allege.
We know that the utility companies lose revenue through the use of illegal meters but we want to be honest that they do not deserve anyone’s sympathy because they have created the situation for others to exploit to their advantage.
If it is non-payment of bills, we shall devote our pages to help educate the public and to name and shame defaulting customers but not when the case of ineptitude and negligence on the part of the companies is clear.
Henceforth, let NEDCo be proactive by attaching urgency to meter acquisition and the circumstances shall change for the better.
Let other utility service providers also heed to this advice and it is likely the problem of illegal meters shall be killed, thereby discouraging people from doing unauthorised importation of meters, which helps in perpetrating the provision and use of illegal meters in the country.
