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Business News of Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

ECG to deploy artificial intelligence in fighting power theft – Bawumia

Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is readying to rollout an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to fight power theft in the country says the vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Speaking at the launch the ECG Mobile Application (ECG POWER) in Accra, the vice President said revenue collection from supplied electricity to various parts of the country remains a challenge in the energy sector.

“If we produce power and we are only able to collect sixty percent (60%) of the revenue, it means we have lost 40% of the revenue. The issue of solving the collection problem at ECG is a major part of solving the energy issue in Ghana,” Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said.

He also spoke about his outfit’s awareness of the board and Management of ECG seeking to applying technology in revenue management.

“I know they are piloting a system now and by the Grace of God if all goes well we will have implemented a new system starting this year whereby nobody will be able to steal electricity in Ghana again,” Dr Bawumia noted.

ECG Board Chairman

Chairman of the Board of Directors of EC, Kelly Gadzekpo, was thankful to the Information Technology (IT) staff for developing the entire infrastructure of the new app, ECG POWER.

“An effective monitoring system has been instituted by the ECG to ensure that revenue generated by the App will be secured and guaranteed,” the Chairman stated.

ECG Power App

The new ECG application (ECG POWER) had been introduced to bring convenience to electricity consumers in the country.

Essentially, the App can be used by ECG customers who have Smart Prepayment Meters to recharge their electricity credit any time of the day as well as do same for family and friends.

It has a mobile wallet payment options and consumption information for the App user. Prepaid top-ups can be made through the App and payment can also be made with the App for postpaid meters.