Energy expert, Dr Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor has sounded the alarm over the increasing frequency of power maintenance operations in Ghana, warning that the trend points to a looming structural crisis in the country’s electricity sector.

He mentioned that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) are overstretching aging infrastructure, with rising incidents of both scheduled and emergency maintenance now indicating more than just routine operations.

“This is not business as usual. Maintenance is supposed to be planned, predictive, and preventive, not reactive and disruptive. The rate at which maintenance work now dominates operations calendars is a red flag,” Dr. Apetorgbor stated in a piece sighted GhanaWeb Business.

He also warned that the nation’s transmission and distribution systems are under significant stress due to years of underinvestment, risking a potential catastrophic system collapse if urgent interventions are not made.

“The assets of GRIDCo and ECG are carrying loads and stresses they were never designed to handle for this long without proper reinforcements,” he added.

Beyond technical issues, Dr Apetorgbor pointed out the economic consequences of the frequent outages, noting that every hour of unplanned downtime results in lost revenue for ECG, which is already grappling with more than 27% in unaccounted-for power losses.

“These disruptions hurt industries, frustrate households, and erode public confidence in the reliability of Ghana’s power supply,” he said.

Citing global best practices, Dr Apetorgbor urged the government to treat investment in power infrastructure with the same priority given to roads and water systems.

He emphasised the need for strategic funding to support transmission lines, substations, transformers, and digital monitoring tools.

“The government must move beyond crisis management and initiate an emergency recapitalisation of ECG and GRIDCo,” he said, proposing solutions such as concessionary loans, infrastructure bonds, and targeted budgetary allocations.

“We must stop normalising frequent outages under the guise of maintenance. These are not routine events, they are warnings. Without urgent action, Ghana could face a damaging nationwide power collapse,” he concluded.

MA