Prince Asare, a 31 year old resident of Sepaase in the Atwima Nwabiegya South Municipality of the Ashanti Region, has been arrested by the Abuakwa Divisional Command for stealing prepaid electricity meters from customers.

The suspect was caught by residents of Abuakwa Agogo Newsite on Monday, 7th July, 2025 stealing a prepaid meter and was later handed over to the Abuakwa District Police Station for arrest and further investigation.

Addressing the media, Ing. George Amoah, ECG General Manager for Ashanti West Region, revealed that customer complaints on stolen meters have increased in recent times as the menace of stolen meters have become rampant in the Ashanti Region.

According to Ing. Amoah “Lately, a lot of customers have thronged our offices to report stolen meters which was an inconvenience to our cherished customers as they had to go through the stress of obtaining a police report and later paying the cost of meter replacement before getting their stolen meters replaced”.

Ing. Amoah indicated that the growing trend prompted the company to intensify public education to create public awareness and liaise with the security agencies to clamp down on individuals perpetrating such illegal acts and this has yielded results with the arrest of the suspect at Abuakwa.

“The modus operandi of this individual was that he moved from community to community to steal prepaid meters and in some cases replace these prepaid meters with fake postpaid meters” Ing. Amoah disclosed.

Ing. Amoah bemoaned the adverse effects of this illegal act as the fake meters installed after stealing the prepaid meters made customers consume power for free on the blind side of ECG, hence affecting the revenue collection and financial health of the Company.

“Replacing the prepaid meters with fake meters for customers affect the revenue activities of ECG as such customers will be consuming power on the blind side of the ECG. The suspect also installed the stolen prepaid meters without the knowledge of ECG for customers not in our system and this contributes to our losses as customers consume electricity illegally”, he added.

Ing. Amoah thanked residents of Abuakwa Agogo Newsite for their extreme vigilance which led to the arrest of the suspect and called on the general public to be vigilant and report such individuals to the nearest police station to enable ECG nip the menace of stolen meters in the bud.

He cautioned individuals engaged in such activities to desist from the menace of meter theft since ECG will prosecute any individual caught stealing or destroying any property of the Company.

The suspect has since been detained at the Abuakwa District Police Station as officials prepare to arraign him before court.