Under the National Economic Dialogue, members of the Structural and Policy Reform Committee are pushing for the mandatory installation of prepaid meters for all electricity consumers in Ghana to tackle operational inefficiencies and revenue losses within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Presenting the committee’s recommendations, Chairman Dr. Kofi Koduah Sarpong emphasized the significant technical and commercial losses faced by ECG, revealing that the company only recovers around 62% of the electricity it supplies.
This results in a concerning 38% of electricity going unaccounted for, raising concerns about revenue leakage and its effect on tariff setting.
To address these issues, Dr. Sarpong proposed the widespread implementation of prepaid meters, drawing comparisons with the telecommunications industry, where consumers are required to purchase airtime or data to access services.
He argued that prepaid meters would help ensure timely revenue collection and significantly 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?
He said, “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,”
