Power consumers in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, are expected to experience intermittent power cuts in the coming weeks as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) works to maintain power supply cables to the region.
Parts of the city have been plunged into darkness in the past few weeks, with some areas experiencing power outages for close to 24 hours.
The power distribution company attributed the recent outages to an overload of electricity supplies and overheating, which has impacted some power distribution cables in the region.
Public Relations Officer for ECG-Ashanti West, Benjamin Obeng Antwi, explained that the increased temperature is compelling households to consume more energy, exceeding the capacity of the existing distribution lines.
“Once there is heat in the system, your consumption at home will be high. The heat contributes to the load growth,” he told David Akuetteh on Luv FM.
The ECG in the Ashanti Region is expected to carry out planned maintenance on the affected distribution lines and subsequently replace them to accommodate more power from the main distribution lines.
“The sub-transmission team has given a timeframe of two weeks to fix the problem. But it’s not as if Kumasi will experience power outages consistently; rather, they will occur as and when planned maintenance is conducted. Changing the cables is just one measure,” he said.
Mr. Obeng Antwi also indicated that ECG is liaising with the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to secure more transformers to upgrade power distribution in the region.
“We are trying to get one of the 145MVA transformers at the Bulk Supply Points. The idea is to install one at Anwomaso and another at Ridge. The one at Anwomaso is likely to come up first, and by the latest, the first quarter, we should have the 145MVA in circuit. Once we have that, we will be able to emit more power,” he said.
ALSO READ: