Power Outages not Dum-so -ECG

 
By Pascal Kafu Abotsi.
The Electricity of Ghana (ECG) says the recent power outages being experienced across the country, which it has taken notice of, is not attributable to load shedding, but to some challenges the power distributor has encountered in some areas.

Addressing the media in Accra yesterday, the Director of Operations of the ECG, Ing Tetteh Ankama Okyne, asked Ghanaians to disabuse their minds from the issue of load shedding, because the situation was linked to something else – a variety of causes.

He admitted his outfit’s awareness of the situation, which, he stated, were faults developed on some of their machines. However, he was optimistic the problems would be resolved by mid November, to bring relief to all its affected customers.

Ing. Okyre mentioned a couple of activities that caused the outages, among which was planned maintenance schedule.

His point here was that: “Like any other machine, which needs to undergo regular maintenance, ECG has a schedule for regular maintenance of its transformers,” emphasising that prior to the instigation of outages in major parts of Accra last Sunday, “ECG caused announcements to inform customers and the general public about the maintenance, prior to the shutdown.”

The second cause he pointed to was pre-emptive maintenance works, which, he said, resulted from the shutdown of a sub-station, “whether it is Bulky Supply Point (BSP), a Primary Sub-station, or a Secondary Sub-station, to quickly rectify a fault, so that it does not degenerate into worse situations, leading to fire outbreaks or destruction of equipment.”

During pre-emptive maintenance works, specifically in times of emergency, when the fault is identified and needs an immediate shutdown of the system, “it is very difficult to inform customers prior to the shutdown. We only communicate an apology after customers are already off,” the Director pointed out.

Outages, Mr. Okyne revealed, could further occur, due to planned outage for project works. And this is when the ECG undertakes project works to improve the distribution system or network. “It can take the form of replacement of obsolete equipment or network, installations of transformers, and extension of power supply,” he said.

Apart from outages caused by third party contractors, including road construction and tree felling activities, the ECG Director would want customers to note that they could happen due to faults and accidents.

Mr. Okyne indicated that accidents of this nature were inevitable, due to his outfit’s management and maintenance of 28 Bulk Supply Points, 101 Primary Sub-stations, 21,000 Secondary Sub-stations, and almost 70,000km of overhead network system.

Concerning ECG’s plans to reduce the depressing situation, the power distributor plans to deploy more third party contractors to assist clear trees interfering with its overhead lines. The ECG would also position engineers at strategic locations to promptly attend to emergency calls, to shorten the intervention time, and also re-schedule non-critical projects to reduce outages currently being witnessed.