How a Ghanaian fintech used AI to help find electricity theft
Hubtel's AI lab helped the Electricity Company of Ghana flag suspected theft. Its chief executive says Ghana now needs data-sharing rules and engineers, not just computers.
Accra — Ghanaian payments company Hubtel used artificial intelligence to help the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) identify customers suspected of stealing power, its chief executive, Alex Bram, told MyJoyOnline.
The project was one of the first from Hubtel's AI laboratory. ECG gave the company the chance to test its tools on electricity data, and Bram said the results were very helpful to the utility and still are.
Building an AI lab in Accra
- Hubtel began experimenting with AI in 2022 and set up its laboratory in 2023, first building its own machine-learning models and testing them with businesses.
- From late 2024 it moved to using commercially available AI systems.
- It wanted to hire about 30 machine-learning engineers, nearly doubled its budget to do so, and still could not find enough qualified people in Ghana.
- Data-sharing deals with other companies stalled because, Bram said, Ghana has no framework for exchanging data.
What he wants next
Bram welcomed Ghana's investment in a national AI compute centre but said computing power without data and skilled people would have limited value. He called for a national data-sharing framework, stronger technical training and closer work between government and business, and said he is optimistic about AI's potential in manufacturing, agriculture, agro-processing and public services.
He spoke ahead of the Joy Digital Economy Forum on "AI and the Ghana Economy", to be broadcast on JoyNews and Joy 99.7 FM on Wednesday, 21 October.
Source: MyJoyOnline, reporting by Emmanuel Dzivenu, 17 October 2026.
