Check your meter: ‘Fake’ devices installed across the TRNC
HOMEOWNERS have been urged to check their electricity meter panels amid claims that tens of thousands of “fake” and “lowquality” meters and other electrical components have been installed across the TRNC.
EnergyIQ director Alptekin Evmez made the warning in an interview with Today.
He said that EnergyIQ is an electromechanical industry trade company, whose partner-products and their brand name have been “faked” in Chinese factories to enter bids opened by the Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (Kıb-Tek) since 2011.
The name behind these accusations, Mors Ltd Company, benefited from the Turkey-based brand name “Setaş” to enter a bid with Chinese-made products which were not eligible for the tender.
Kıb-Tek is now considering “blacklisting” these products, including “D fuse switches and electricity meters”, Mr Evmez claimed.
EnergyIQ established its TRNC representation office in 2018 when they realised that a bid was won with Setaş products, of which they are the only authorised partner in the TRNC.
Investigations revealed that items that cost KıbTek $123,800 to buy were not “even in the product supply range” of EnergyIQ.
According to EnergyIQ’s research, 1,000 fake D fuse switches were obtained for $33 each but sold to Kıb-Tek for $124.
“That’s why we couldn’t enter the bid,” Mr Evmez said, who added that “fake” products have also been sold to electrical contractors and have “entered many homes”.
“There are approximately 195,000 electricity meters and more than half of those are fake ‘Elopar’ products,” he said.
Mr Evmez urged the public to check if the name “Elopar” appears on any circuit breakers and make a written request to Kıb-Tek to have them replaced.
Residents are, however, not allowed to buy their own cut-out switches and have them installed, but can only accept the choice of Kıb-Tek personnel, according to Mr Evmez.
He added that Kıb-Tek has stock that has been built up with “years of circulating between two or three fake or low quality brands”.
When EnergyIQ tried to speak up against alleged fraud, a Kıb-Tek official told them over the phone that “they knew the products were fake and that they were buying them for the last time”.
Collusion between some Kıb-Tek officials and companies who win bids was examined and confirmed in a Court of Accounts report, Mr Evmez said.
“Citizens have an obligation to pay attention to this issue for their own property and the safety of their lives,” Mr Evmez added.
Mr Evmez also suggested a correlation between a series of fires that broke out in May last year and the materials used by Kıb-Tek.
In May 2020, 18 fires were reported by the police in only 24 hours which “happens when the materials cannot handle the [electricity] usage” Mr Evmez said.
“A person whose field burned due to a fire caused by an electricity poll [D fuse switch] has filed a suit for damages against Kıb-Tek,” Mr Evmez said.