The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has confiscated more than 300 electricity meters in just two days after launching a targeted dawn operation against power theft in the Tamale Metropolis, exposing a scale of illegal connections that officials described as alarming.
The operation, conducted between 5:30am and 6:30am, swept through the Kalpohin and Kukuo communities, where field teams uncovered widespread meter bypassing and illegal connections across both areas.
NEDCo’s Corporate Communications Manager, Maxwell Kotoka, said the two-community sweep already revealed over 300 offenders, warning that the full scale of the problem is far larger. He said the company is currently losing approximately 46 percent of all electricity distributed to theft, with the Tamale Metropolis accounting for a disproportionate share of those losses.
Kotoka said the damage to smart meters during the illegal bypassing is compounding the crisis. He explained that the cost of replacing destroyed units forces NEDCo to divert meter stock from new applicants, creating a backlog that denies legitimate customers access to supply. “When we invest in meters and in two days, two communities can destroy in excess of 300, when we bring the next set of meters we are compelled to replace the damaged meters instead of spreading them and making them available to new applicants,” he said.
Beyond the financial losses, Kotoka warned that widespread illegal connections overload transformers, worsening the reliability of power supply across the region. He noted that seven new transformers have recently been installed in the Tamale Metropolis, with additional units deployed to Kpandai, Kete Krachi, and Bimbilla to improve distribution. He cautioned that continued power theft risks undermining these infrastructure investments.
NEDCo said individuals found culpable will face prosecution and urged residents to cooperate with the company’s enforcement efforts to protect shared electricity infrastructure.
