By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY, Cape Coast
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has announced plans to halt imports of electricity meters and instead source them from local manufacturers.
The move is expected to help create employment opportunities under a broader strategy that supports indigenisation of the economy.
It follows a decision by some locally-based companies to design and manufacture residential and commercial smart meters for the company, ECG’s Director of Communications, William Boateng disclosed.
He made the disclosure at a press forum for selected journalists from across the country at Cape Coast in the Central Region.
So far, he said, about six local companies have been permitted to produce Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)-compliant smart prepaid meters, which function the same way as imported ones.
Beyond producing the meters, the companies will be responsible for their installation together ECG.
One of the companies, Alpha T&D, is said to be presently offering direct employment to about 300 people and about 1,500 to 2,000 indirectly.
Mr. Boateng explained that ECG has started replacing postpaid, non-smart prepaid and faulty meters with MMS-compliant smart prepaid meters nationwide.
The meter replacement exercise, he stated, forms part of the company’s loss reduction programme. It also aims to improve energy efficiency.
Commenting on the new meters, he said: “A customer can buy credit onto their meters from the comfort of their homes, or anywhere they are, by downloading the ECG Power app or using a short code”.
