Kpongunor residents reject pre-paid meters

The residents of Kpongunor in the Krobo area, have rejected plans by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to install pre-paid meters in the Yilo and Manya Krobo municipalities.

The management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), on Tuesday, began a comprehensive meter reading and pre-installation survey in the two municipalities as part of measures to pave the way for the installation of the meters.

But the residents, who earlier gave the company the green light to conduct the exercise, made a U-turn and protested against the deployment of the new meters.

According to the residents, the move would not only bring an undue financial burden on them but affect their well-being.

The residents say they are not in a position to afford the prepaid credits when their power runs out.

They are of the view that the exercise is a ploy by the power distributor to retrieve debts owed to the company by customers in that part of the country.

They further argued that the management of ECG has failed to compensate the families of a young man who was killed during a demonstration in connection with their electricity matters in 2018 as well as those who got maimed.

According to them, Kpongunor remains a hotspot in the Krobo area stemming from the fracas that occurred between them and the police in 2018 which resulted in one death and seven injuries.

The Divisional Chief of Dorm in the Manya Krobo Traditional Area of the Eastern Region, Nene Bediako Baah Muala III, urged the authorities of ECG to properly educate the people of the area before installing the meters.

According to him, going ahead with the installation without getting the buy-in of the locals could result in another mayhem.

The MD for ECG, Mr Kwame Agyemang-Budu, in response, explained that the prepaid metering system is not only being deployed in Kroboland but a national policy being rolled out by the company to cut revenue losses.