By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Under the National Economic Dialogue, members of the Structural and Policy Reform Committee are advocating for the mandatory use of prepaid meters by all electricity consumers across Ghana to address the operational inefficiencies and revenue losses plaguing the country’s power distributor, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Presenting the Structural and Policy Reform Committee’s recommendations, Chairman of the Committee Dr. Kofi Koduah Sarpong highlighted the significant technical and commercial losses incurred by ECG, noting that the company recovers only about 62% of the electricity supplied to the market.
This leaves a staggering 38% unaccounted for, raising concerns about revenue leakage and its impact on tariff determination.
To address these challenges, the Chairman of the Structural and Policy Reform Committee proposed the widespread adoption of prepaid meters, drawing parallels with the telecommunication industry, where consumers must purchase airtime or data bundles to access services.
Dr. Sarpong contended that prepaid meters would ensure timely revenue collection and reduce losses.
“We discovered that the ECG has got so many operational inefficiencies. There are high technical and commercial losses. What is very worrying is the fact that the electricity they put into the market only recovered about 62% of its value. The question that arises is, where does the 38% go? If we get the 38%, what impact will it have on tariff determination as well as managing the 1 billion that we throw away every year?
We think that ECG must expand prepaid electricity, and if it is possible, every consumer must be on prepaid. Just like in the telecommunication industry. If you don’t buy the card or the bundle, you cannot get the service. We think that if we have prepaid meters installed, then we should be able to collect a substantial part of the revenue,” he reiterated.
