Installing Or Using Uncertified Electricity Meter Is An Offence – GSA Warns

The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has announced mandatory testing, verification and certification of all electricity meters in the country, warning that installing or using an uncertified energy meter is an offence.

In Public Notice No. GSA/DGS/PN/26/10 issued on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, the Authority set December 31, 2028 as the compliance deadline for all meters already in service.

The Authority stressed that the exercise is free of charge, compulsory and required by law.

The directive is anchored on Regulation 24 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (Consumer Service) Regulations, 2020 (LI 2413), which mandates the GSA, as the National Metrology Institute of the Republic, to approve meters required for use by a public utility and subject them to testing and certification.

The Authority said the regulation covers electricity distribution companies and bulk suppliers, independent power producers and embedded generators, meter manufacturers, importers and suppliers, meter installation, calibration and repair contractors, electrical contractors, estate and property developers, landlords, facility and mall managers operating sub-meters, as well as industrial, commercial and mining self-generators, vending and prepayment operators and homeowners.

According to the GSA, single-phase, three-phase, transformer (CT/VT), high-tension and low-tension electricity meters are regulated measuring instruments under Part Six of the Third Schedule to Act 1078.

The rule applies irrespective of technology, ownership or billing arrangement and includes postpaid, prepaid and smart meters, bulk-supply and check meters, sub-meters used to apportion or recover energy costs, and export, import and net-metering installations including solar PV.

The Authority stated that no meter may be installed, energised or used for measurement unless it has been Pattern or Type Approved by the Authority, tested, verified, stamped and sealed by an Inspector of Weights and Measures with a valid Certificate of Verification issued, retained and produced on demand, marked in SI Units, and is within the permissible margin of error and re-verified at the prescribed intervals.

On sanctions, the GSA warned that installing, repairing, adjusting, relocating or re-installing a regulated meter without authorisation, or removing, breaking or interfering with a GSA tag, seal or mark, including electronic seals, attracts an administrative penalty of 1,000 penalty units.

The same penalty applies to using or possessing for use a meter that is not Pattern Approved, not marked or certified, not verified, stamped or authenticated, or without a valid Certificate of Verification.

Representing in writing or otherwise or by use of a mark that a meter is GSA-approved, verified or certified when it is not attracts a fine of 2,000 to 4,000 penalty units or six months to one year imprisonment or both, and up to 100 penalty units for each day the offence continues.

Knowingly making, selling or using an unjust meter, forging or using a forged verification stamp, or altering a stamped meter with intent to defraud attracts a fine of 1,500 to 3,000 penalty units or two to four years imprisonment or both. Wilfully obstructing an Inspector of Weights and Measures also attracts a fine of 1,500 to 3,000 penalty units or one to two years imprisonment or both.

The Authority added that failure to pay an administrative penalty will result in the person ceasing to operate the business, failing which the Authority shall shut down the business.

The notice issued six key directives. First, with immediate effect, no person shall sell, offer for sale, supply, accept, install, connect or energise any meter that does not meet the stated requirements, with meters held in warehouses, project stores or in transit and meters awaiting installation enjoying no grace period.

Second, every meter installed and in service as of the date of the notice shall be submitted for testing, verification and certification under the National Electricity Meter Testing Programme in accordance with the phased submission schedule to be issued by the Authority, not later than December 31, 2028, after which any meter not certified shall not be used for measurement and shall be liable to seizure and forfeiture, and any person who demands payment for the service should be reported.

Third, any meter that has been repaired, refurbished, reconditioned, removed and re-installed or relocated, or whose metrological registers, calibration constants, firmware or configuration have been altered, shall be re-verified, re-sealed and re-certified before further use, while broken, missing or tampered seals shall be reported within seven days and the meter withdrawn from service.

Fourth, a foreign type approval, calibration report or conformity certificate, and any calibration certificate issued by a manufacturer, supplier, in-house or private laboratory is not a Certificate of Verification and confers no authority to install or energise a meter, and only an Inspector of Weights and Measures may verify, stamp and certify.

Fifth, no contract, tenancy, sale agreement, waiver or indemnity operates to exclude or postpone these obligations and reliance on a supplier’s or contractor’s assurance is not a defence, with distributors, developers and landlords required to keep a register of meters under their control and hand over the Certificate of Verification on sale, letting or handover of a property.

Sixth, consumers are advised before accepting a meter to ask for and inspect the GSA seal and Certificate of Verification and not to permit any person to install, open, adjust or replace their meter without evidence of authorisation from the Authority.

The GSA further noted that Inspectors may at all reasonable times enter premises, demand production of and seize any meter made or used in contravention of the Act, and that non-conforming meters may be forfeited to the Republic and destroyed. Where the offender is a body corporate, every director and officer shall be deemed to have committed the offence.

The Authority urged the public to report uncertified, tampered or inaccurate meters to the Legal Metrology Department, Metrology Directorate of the Ghana Standards Authority on telephone number 0302500066 and email dgsec@gsa.gov.gh.

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