The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has asked its customers to desist from engaging unauthorized private electricians to operate within its network.
Mr George Amoah, the General Manager of the Ashanti West Region of ECG, who made the call, said the operations of these unauthorised private electricians were illegal and caused both the ECG and customers huge losses.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Kumasi, he pointed out that these unauthorized electricians engaged in activities such as climbing poles, fusing transformers with substandard fuses and transferring customers from one phase to another.
According to him, such illegal activities often resulted in frequent power cuts, low voltage, power fluctuations and transformer damages.
He recalled that, recently, the ECG lost a 33kV transformer at Bousie in its Suame District due to the illegal activities of some private electricians and had to be replaced with a 200kV, worth Ghc 110,000.00.
Additionally, areas such as Adum Business District, Abinkyi and others, have had their fair share of damages to ECG installations due to the illegal operations of these unauthorised private electricians.
“Currently, their actions are destroying our transformers and causing outages and low voltage to our customers as they swap phase for customers and end up overloading that particular phase,” Mr Amoah said.
He said not only did the ECG lose money to replacing the damaged ECG installations but also lost money to unused power supply already paid for due to these unwarranted power outages caused by the private electricians.
Also, he said the unauthorized electricians risked their lives in operating within the ECG network as they could unknowingly experience electrical shocks.
“Our system is a ring system, which enables us to supply customers from different feeders in the wake of an outage.
So, an electrician illegally climbing a pole to rectify a problem might think there is no power in the conductors (electricity lines), meanwhile, we will be supplying from a different feeder, which could electrocute the electrician”, he disclosed.
Mr Amoah, again, recalled that an engagement with residents of Dabaa in the Atwima Nwabiagya North Municipality, revealed their engagement with a private electrician who normally charged GhC150 for restoring power whenever they experienced an outage.
“Regular load monitoring revealed that the electrician had transferred a lot of customers onto the red phase, hence overloading that phase of the transformer,” he said.
Mr Amoah emphasised that every electrician and engineer who worked within the ECG network was required to obtain a permit from the company before carrying out any work within the network.
He said electricians and ECG engineers with permits to operate within the ECG network could be identified by their Identification Cards, branded ECG reflector vests, helmets, vehicles and safety apparel.
Anyone apprehended by the ECG for engaging in such illegal activities, Mr Amoah said would be prosecuted as the ECG was mandated by the Executive Instrument (EI) 38 of the Appointment of Public Prosecution Instrument (2010).