Public Relations Officer for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) -Ashanti West, Benjamin Obeng Antwi says Kumasi has been facing technical challenges in keeping the lights on but insists there is no “dumsor.”
Parts of Kumasi have been plunged into darkness in the past few weeks, with some communities staying without power for more than 24 hours.
Speaking in an interview with Nhyira FM’s Nana Jantuah on the “Kuro Yi Mu Nsem” show, Benjamin Obeng Antwi attributed the recent power outages to works being done to maintain power supply in the region.
“There is no ‘dumsor’, we had an underground cable fault. When that happens, we have to dig the ground and bring out all the cables so we can test them. We cannot work on the cables without turning off the electricity, that is why Kumasi has been experiencing some outages,” he said.
Mr. Obeng Antwi also indicated ongoing renovation worls on old power structures.
“We have 5 bulk supply points where GRIDCO and ECG meet to receive the electricity. They are very old constructions. There are outages while we’re fixing the wires. Now we have decided not to put the cables underground anymore and to increase the sizes of the wires from 240 and 400 to 630 so that we can have a more stable power.
“How they built the structures back then was okay for them. But as time is moving, there’s a need to make changes. Even with the 630, we might have to change it eventually,” he explained.
The ECG PRO used the medium to render apologies to consumers in Kumasi who have been experiencing intermittent power cuts.
“I want to apologize to Ashanti Region on behalf of electricity company of Ghana. We acknowledge that the lights have not been stable since the beginning of the year. It is not intentional to bring back ‘Dumsor’. We had a technical problem,” he expressed.
He further cautioned the public to report suspected power thefts to the police.
“We have changed a lot of fuse at Adum for a couple of weeks now. People keep breaking the locks stealing the fuse. When you see anyone around an ECG pole, please go and ask them if they work at ECG. You can identify the real ECG workers by their overall coats and reflectors. Also no ECG worker works alone, they always move in groups. When they act suspicious please report them to the police,” he added.