The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Mr. Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi, has defended the integrity of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), stating that the company has been a trusted distributor of electricity over the years hence should be trusted.

The union indicated that it has observed with keen interest the recent challenges confronting electricity distribution in Ghana and the negative impact on the operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

The union indicated that the ECG, being a transparent entity, informed customers of 630 distribution transformers being full to capacity within its operational areas clarifying that the situation may cause blown fuses and cracked conductors during peak periods.

It further argued that the replacement and upgrade of these transformers have been part of ECG’s operations over the years, however, it has never led to public agitation, which has turned into a national outcry for a load-shedding timetable.

“Indeed, ECG has about 33,000 distribution transformers within its network, thus even if the 630 transformers are overloaded, that cannot be the cause of the recent erratic power supply throughout the country”.
Public Utility Workers Union

The union further argued that at the time the Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) are dumped, or ECG is asked to pick a limited load, the power supply transmitted to ECG is far less than what is available. The union alleged that the current situation is a question that the system operator needs to answer not the ECG.

Moreover, the union boasted when the Government of Ghana was struggling to finance the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), ECG intervened with a monthly regular payment that was acceptable to them to date arguing that since then, the IPPs Chamber has not threatened the good people of this country with Dumsor.

More so, the union indicated that in the last one and a half years, under the current leadership, ECG has made significant improvements towards becoming a modern utility company with unmatched achievements. It stated that the company doubled its revenue collections and transformed its operations to become a smart utility company.

ECG Digitalized

Accordingly, the PUWU alleged that the ECG runs a cashless system –for the first time in the history of the company–, a paperless system, end-to-end digital meter reading, and spot billing energy auditing system, meter Management, and outage management systems, among others.

The union also indicated in the statement that within the period of internal capacitation, ECG enhanced its operations with private sector participation for improved efficiency, indicating that one of such program is the Loss Reduction Projects (LRP).

“We admit that ECG has not arrived yet, it is a process, and if power had been stable from generation, the image of the Company would have been far better than the commentary from the airwaves and from the CSOs”.
Public Utility Workers Union

The union noted that the PURC, as a regulator, should be requesting data from the system operator on outages of BSPs to avoid the speculation by the customers that the ECG is deliberately denying them of power supply which is critical for socio-economic development.

It also clarified that the cost of unsold energy of the dumping of a BSP is more expensive than a planned outage by ECG for maintenance works, indicating that when the system operator, GRIDCo dumps one BSP such as the Mallam BSP, virtually the entire western part of Accra goes off, including Weija water works and parts of Kasoa.

Conclusively, the Public Utility Workers Union through the statement appealed to the system regulator to address these issues at the earliest possible time to prevent the speculations about the ECG involvement in the erratic power interruption from spreading.