ECG grabs East Cantonments Pharmacy for illegal connection

By Bernice Bessey.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has busted the warehouse of East Cantonments Pharmacy, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the country, at Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, for stealing electricity.
The theft was discovered during the ECG’s unannounced operations to detect illegalities by consumers who have, over the years, been engaged in connecting electricity through illegal means.
At the East Cantonments Pharmacy warehouse, the ECG discovered that the company had tapped electricity, bypassing the meter, which was to bill its consumption.
A staff at the pharmacy aggressively prevented and denied the ECG officials access to the facility to conduct a search and inspection of the warehouse, claiming the keys to the facility were with someone in Nigeria.
The staff then vented his anger on the media personnel, who were on the inspection tour with the ECG officials, threatening and asking them to vacate the premises of the pharmaceutical company.
Ing. Michael Kwasi Okai, ECG’s Revenue Protection Manager, told the media that this was the third time the ECG officials were being denied access to the property of the East Cantonments Pharmacy.
He explained that the obstruction by the staff of the pharmacy was deliberate and unlawful, explaining that the ECG is lawfully mandated to embark on such operations to check their meters, at both commercial and residential facilities.
He pointed out: “They denied us on Monday, July 24, 2017. All they were saying was they don’t have the keys, and that they (keys) are with someone at Awoshie, a suburb of Accra. But what we have done currently is to disconnect their meter.”
According to him, the fact had already been established that the company bypassed the meter to source electrical power.
Ing. Okai said, earlier, the ECG disconnected supply to the warehouse, yet the facility continued to have electrical power, and that raised their suspicion.
“Since they are denying us access into the facility, we can decide to treat the entire building as bypassed. After all, we have noticed the transformer,” Ing. Okai stated.
Initially, the ECG intended to bill the pharmaceutical company per the number of rooms and facilities that were expected to run on the meter.
The Revenue Protection Manager vividly believed that the warehouse might have several cooling facilities, and so the ECG could not correctly bill the facility accordingly.

By Bernice Bessey. The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has busted the warehouse of East Cantonments Pharmacy, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the country, at Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, for stealing electricity. The theft was discovered during the ECG’s unannounced operations to detect illegalities by consumers who have, over the years, been […] Read Full Story