The Electricity Company of Ghana Limited has commissioned a 'Loss Reduction Programme (LRP)' in the Amasaman District of the Accra West region to facilitate the installation of compliant smart meters directly from manufacturers to customers. The roll out of the programme in the District signals a complete coverage of the programme in all eight operational districts in the region and would improve energy accounting. The LRP is an initiative of Management of ECG to ensure the availability of meters to meet service connection requests and reduce system losses. WINA technologies, a local Ghanaian meter assembling company, is the contractor assigned to the Amasaman District, a news brief from the ECG, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said. The Company is in partnership with Conlog Solutions, a South African based meter manufacturing company with over 50 years' experience in providing metering solutions in several countries, for the programme. At a ceremony to inaugurate the programme, Mr Kingsley Opoku, the ECG District Manager for Amasaman, said the District struggled with the overwhelming demand for new service connections and replacement of faulty meters, which it was unable to satisfy. The absence of adequate meters to service the requests led to revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction, he explained. Mrs Hudson-Butler, the Chief Executive Officer of WINA Technologies assured the ECG that the Conlog meters were designed to withstand all forms of external interference and shocks. 'Throughout the years, Conlog solutions has mastered the art of perfecting the anti-theft and anti-tampering security features of its meters. 'We assure ECG that with our technology, anyone who attempts to engage in any form of illegality will be detected and a signal will be sent to the control center. The meter will then deactivate and await official attention from ECG,' she said. Mr Emmanuel Ankrah, the Acting Accra West General Manager, ECG, said he was content with the pace at which Districts were adapting to recent innova tions introduced into the Company's operations. He noted that the digitization of many of the Company's internal processes were geared towards improving revenue and service delivery. He expressed optimism that through the LRP, shortage of meters would be a thing of the past. Mr Ankrah said: 'Inadequate meters to meet service requests has become an excuse for some people to engage in illegalities, robbing the Company of much needed revenue. These activities negatively affect the Company, since such persons use power without paying.' He said it was good news, therefore, that the LRP programme would ensure that ECG was able to serve customers promptly and efficiently. The Accra west region has eight operational districts - Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korlebu and Nsawam districts. Present at the inauguration was the South African Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Grace Jeanet Mason. Others were the Project Manager, Dr. Belinda Yeboah Dwamena; the Meter Supplier's Consultant, Mr Jo nes Ofori Addo and the Accra west region management team. Source: Ghana News Agency