Illegal Power Connections Will Attract Severe Penalties - Jinapor Warns
Accra, Ghana - 3 July, 2025 - Ghana's Minister for Energy, John Jinapor, has warned that estate developers found to have connected homes illegally to the national electricity grid will face prosecution.
The Minister made the announcement while addressing Parliament on the issue of reducing commercial losses at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). Mr. Jinapor's warning comes after a recent operation by ECG's taskforce uncovered multiple homes within the Rehoboth Estate in Accra with illegal electricity connections.
The Minister emphasized that the managers of the affected estates would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as part of the government's efforts to clamp down on power theft and improve energy accounting.
“Recently, you would have heard that some estates have been busted, and we are arranging them before court,” he told Parliament.
He also revealed that the government is introducing new technologies and systems to curb electricity losses and ensure accurate billing. These measures include the installation of smart meters, which provide on-the-spot information on energy consumption.
According to Mr. Jinapor, about one million smart meters have already been installed under the programme. The Minister also disclosed that Cabinet has approved a policy requiring all state institutions to be placed on repayment meters or agree to a monthly billing system with ECG, with some exceptions.
“On the loss reduction programme, which is part of the reforms being undertaken by ECG… we’re installing meter management systems, compliant repayment meters, replacing over-aged and faulty meters, and putting in new service connections,” he explained.
“These are smart meters that provide on-the-spot information… ECG is meeting some key performance indicators,” he said.
The Energy Minister's announcement is part of a broader effort to address the financial challenges facing the energy sector.
“Ordinarily, it’s ECG that has the mandate to install meters,” he explained.
“We are working on a legislation… so that the penalty and the penal measures will be quite severe to serve as a deterrent. We've been arresting people, we’ve been prosecuting them. In fact, there’s a dedicated court for such offences.”
He revealed that ECG had paid Independent Power Producers (IPPs) an amount equal to what was paid in the entire year of 2024 by June this year.
“By the middle of the year, we had reached what was paid to IPPs the whole of last year,” he said.
To enhance transparency and oversight, Mr. Jinapor has directed ECG to operate a single monitored account.
“With that single account, all of us can monitor the amount that comes in. We’ve also directed that they make no payments until the end of the month, so that we can use the cash waterfall mechanism to distribute the revenues.”
Source: Lead News Online
