The Northern Regional Minister, Ali Adolf John, has made a passionate appeal to the traditional and religious leaders in the Tamale Metropolis and its surrounding communities to support the campaign against the widespread illegal connections by electricity and water consumers in the area.
The Minister noted that the level of revenue losses recorded by the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and the Ghana Water Limited in the greater Tamale area and other districts in the region as a result illegal connections is unacceptable.
The Northern Electricity Distribution Company has reported a revenue loss of about 195 million cedis in the Tamale area alone through power theft. The Northern Area Manager, Elvis Demuyakor told Journalists that when you put the Tamale BSP and Yendi BSP together, it contributes to about 96 percent of the losses recorded year to date in the Northern Area.
He further lamented how the revenue shortfall has adversely impacted on their operations and quality of service, emphasizing, “As we speak, we’re struggling to buy transformers, we’re struggling to do rehabilitation of the lines; there are some areas as we speak experiencing some power outages as a result of transformer failures and we are struggling to get transformers to replace”.
The Ghana Water Limited has also reported a total revenue loss of over 88 million cedis spanning from January 2024 to May 2025 due to unlawful connections, meter thefts, pipe vandalism among others.
On the back of this, the Regional Minister in an interview with Journalists during the launch of the “Tamale in Focus Project” on Wednesday, June 11, warned that the law will catch up with anyone found culpable in such practice.
“Even as the Regional Minister, I’m not above the law and I will condone anyone found to be engaging in illegal connections whether it was water or electricity. If you know you have a debt, visit NEDCo or the Ghana Water to fashion out a payment plan but you don’t attack when they get you in the act.
“And I want to appeal to our chiefs, Imams, Pastors and all other opinion leaders to encourage the people to abstain from illegal connections because the law does not allow that. Let’s ensure to always pay our bills frequently so that they can keep the lights on for us” he stated.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ali Adolf John has commended the Northern Regional Office of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission for coming up with the “Tamale in Focus Project” initiative to help solve the financial challenges of the utility service providers.
“The Northern Regional Coordinating Council is prepared to play any role in making “The Tamale in Focus project” a reality. I also call on all stakeholders, especially the media, to help “The Tamale in Focus Project” achieve its intended objectives and Goals” he implored.
