Current dumsor caused by excessive heat - ECG

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has cited excessive heat waves as a factor impacting their power supply efficiency in certain regions of the country.

According to the Director of Communications at ECG, William Boateng, the high ambient temperatures, coupled with increased power usage during this time of the year, have led to overloading in some operational areas.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Boateng explained that since December, there has been a 10% surge in the demand for electricity, exerting pressure on their power lines.

Despite previous concerns about power generation shortfalls, Boateng emphasized that the current challenges were not related to generation issues, as those had already been addressed.

“The issue of the generational shortages has been fixed. But outages are still being experienced in some areas and that is mainly due to the increase in power demand at this time of the year when the extremely high temperature means prolonged use of cooling appliances," stated Boateng.

He urged customers to report any localised outages and voltage fluctuations to the ECG Call Centre for prompt resolution.

William Boateng highlighted the positive strides in ECG's services, attributing improvements to ongoing facility investments.

In 2024, the company plans to further enhance efficiency while continuing its loss reduction project initiated in the previous year.

As part of their plans, ECG aims to procure 800,000 smart prepaid meters to address the backlog of demands.

This includes serving customers on the waiting list, replacing faulty meters, and transitioning almost all post-paid customers onto smart prepaid meters, particularly in regional municipal and district capitals.

“It is an ongoing project, but this year, we are targeting to secure 800,000 management system compliant meters or what we simply refer to as smart prepaid meters to clear the backlog, serve those on the waiting list, as well as roll all post-paid customers…onto the prepaid service.

"That will help us to better monitor the integrity and functioning of our meters and services as part of our loss reduction project,” Boateng explained.

NAY/AE