Prepaid meter issues in Ghana: Assessing the impact and the way forward

Abstract

When it comes to electricity, several African developing nations confront a "twofold tragedy." The rate of access to power is minimal, and those who do experience frequent outages have significant consequences. Ongoing attempts are being made to expand access to energy throughout the continent. However, the necessity to increase electrical supply stability gets little concern. Unreliable power has negative effects on customers by reducing energy use and the advantages that should result from having an electrical connection. Using data obtained from 400 ECG users and 33 in-depth interviews, this research investigates the effect of prepaid meter problems in Ghana as well as potential solutions. The research used descriptive and logistic regression methods to examine socioeconomic characteristics, perceptions, recommendations, and self-reported effects of the recent October 2022 Prepaid Meter Issues (O22PMI) in Ghana. The O22PMI was determined to have a negative influence on the daily activities and security (89.5%) of respondents. Lack of public trust, approved illegal connections, worry, frustrations, and fear, insufficient resources and personnel at the ECG, business and financial losses, and the destruction of household appliances were key themes that emerged from the research. Income and residence are significant indicators of the self-reported impacts of the outage. The O22PMI was more likely to affect those with incomes below the federal minimum wage. To avoid future prepaid metering failures and frequent power outages, it is recommended that the government and other ECG stakeholders help in the deployment of stable systems and new innovations to increase power capacity.