An ECG officer (standing) displays the new meters at a public function
The Tema Regional Office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is to start the installation of prepaid meters for customers at Kpong in the Eastern Region.
Madam Puumaaiya Ruhiya Fuseini, the Marketing Manager, ECG Tema Region, who announced this at the ECG Community Engagement forum ahead of the installation, said Kpong was one of the towns in the ECG Krobo District, which has been classified as a category ‘A’.
Madam Fuseini said in line with the Company’s policies on prepaid installations, customers in the category ‘A’ district like Krobo must use prepaid meters instead of the current postpaid ones.
She said the ECG should have done the installation a long time but it was put on hold due to the impasse the Company had with the clients and had to wait for the right time.
She said a pre-installation survey was carried out by the ECG team in December 2021 and there was the need for the Communication and Education Committee to engage residents of the various electoral areas in the town to educate them on the meters before the actual installations.
“We are here in the electoral area to educate our customers about the prepayment meters that we are bringing in, we have already sent messages out to them and we are here in person to educate them on how it works, some of the advantages it comes with, and some of the comfort they will get when they start using it,” she said.
Mr Adama Yussif, Clou Meter Expert at the ECG Projects Office, said pre-installation survey was often done before an installation to enable the team to confirm the meters on the field and also pick the data of customers on the meter, which would be calibrated into the new one to make it easy for them to use after the installation.
Mr Yussif said the survey also helped them to estimate the materials needed for the installation, which would be used to issue the needed materials to the contractors to do the installation.
He disclosed that customers within Kpong would have their postpaid meters replaced with the Cluo smart meters, which he said came in in a single-phase, three-phase, and Current Transformer (CT).
He explained that it was a smart meter that have two-way communication and enabled the customer to communicate with it and vice versa, adding that the Cluo meters also came with the customer meter number and user interface unit which was in the form of a remote.
He said the user interface would be installed at the customer’s place of choice on their premises while the meters would be installed outside, adding that customers would have to use the interface for their activities, therefore, no need of touching the meters.
The Cluo Meter Expert also noted that customers could determine the amount of power they needed and buy the same, adding that they could equally use the ECG power app or *226# to purchase power without visiting its offices or vendors.
Mr Evans Noener-Narh, the Assembly Member for the Parkson electoral area, said most residents had agreed to have the prepaid meters installed for them, saying however that the various Assembly Members would collaborate to continue educating those who were yet to understand the rationale behind the meter replacement.
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