By Frank Kwame Abbor
Ho, Jan 23, GNA-The Electricity Company of Ghana has explained why there were intermittent power outages in Volta and Oti Regions, attributing them to transmission constraints and overloaded transformers.
The explanation was given during a public engagement on January 21, 2026, in Ho to clarify the causes of the power challenges to customers in the two regions.
Mr Emmanuel Odei, the District Manager of ECG, said the company’s mandate was to distribute electricity received from the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and ensure effective revenue mobilisation.
He explained that ECG purchased power generated and transmitted through the national grid and sold it to customers across the regions.
Mr Ofei said that revenue collection was critical to sustaining ECG’s operations and enabling it to continuously deliver reliable services.
“As much as we use the power, we should also ensure that we pay our bills so that ECG will be financially sound to carry out its mandate continuously,” he said.
He noted that while ECG met its financial obligations, some customers defaulted on bill payments, making revenue mobilisation a major operational challenge.
Mr Ofei said ECG had recorded gradual operational improvements over the years and was optimistic that service delivery would further improve this year.
He acknowledged that customers were mainly concerned about intermittent outages, low voltage and unstable supply, particularly during peak demand hours.
Madam Eunice Teneboah – Kodua, the Public Relations Officer of ECG for the Volta and Oti Regions, urged customers to understand how electricity supply worked within the energy sector.
She explained that the sector operated on a three-tier supply chain involving generation, transmission and distribution, with ECG responsible only for distribution.
Madam Teneboah-Kodua said the recent peak-time outages were not localised faults, but system-wide challenges affecting both regions.
“When everybody returns home and switches on their gadgets, demand peaks, and the challenge we are seeing does not originate from ECG’s distribution network,” she stated.
She said some localised outages could, however, result from overloaded transformers caused by illegal connections and unauthorised extensions by customers.
Madam Teneboah-Kodua disclosed that ECG was actively engaging its partners in the energy sector to find lasting solutions to the challenges.
She said a team of engineers from Accra was expected to visit the regions to assess Bulk Supply Points and recommend appropriate interventions
She explained that the Volta and Oti Regions relied largely on a single transmission line, making the network vulnerable during periods of high demand.
Madam Teneboah-Kodua said plans for transformer upgrades and additional capacity injections, similar to the previous 10MVA injection at Sogakope, were under consideration by ECG’s partners.
She reiterated ECG’s concern about the situation and appealed to customers to pay their bills promptly, noting that financial commitments were essential for network expansion and system upgrades.
She encouraged customers to report local faults such as line trips and phase outages promptly, assuring them that ECG engineers would respond swiftly to restore supply.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Benjamin Mensah