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The General Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana - Western Region, Ing. Jacqueline Ofori Atta has assured customers and the general public of the company’s commitment to improve its network and quality of supply even as its operations have been severely hit by the current energy crisis.

This according to her is in line with the company’s mission of providing quality, reliable and safe electricity services to support the economic growth and development of Ghana.

Speaking at a staff durbar to climax the Minister of Power’s 2-day working visit to the Western Region, she gave a broad overview of the state of the company’s network in the region. “Currently, we have six bulk supply points (BSPs), thirteen primary substations and a total of 2,132 secondary substations (as at April 2015) installed in the region, with a peak load demand of 200MW”, she noted.

Touching on some projects being undertaken to improve the reliability of the network and quality of supply to customers, Ing. Ofori Atta revealed that works on two more primary substations are ongoing. These according to her, are located at the Takoradi harbour and the Mpintsin Free Zone area. “The substation located at Takoradi Harbour, for example, has been built by ECG to provide support for GHACEM’s expanded operations and other customers within the Harbour enclave.

“The two substations will officially be commissioned very soon”, she added.

Commenting on the current energy crisis, the Regional General Manager noted that the crisis has been a major setback to the operations of ECG. She therefore appealed to the company’s cherished customers in the region - who have been greatly affected by the crisis - to bear with the management. “Nobody in Ghana takes delight in the present load management challenge the nation is facing. Our fortunes, as a company, are directly linked to the availability of enough power for all our customers at all times”, she explained.

On his part, the Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor took personal responsibility for the energy crisis and pledged government’s commitment to see to its early resolution. He outlined government’s short term plans to generate almost 1000MW from the Aboadze enclave by October this year. Dr. Donkor also revealed that all state organizations in the power sector including the Electricity Company of Ghana have been slated for major reforms and restructuring.

The Electricity Company of Ghana in the Western Region consists of 11 operational districts spread over the whole of Ghana’s Western Region and parts of the Ashanti and Central Regions. The region has a total customer population of over 315000 and growing, who are served by about 650 dedicated staff.

Meanwhile, the regions network is fast expanding and this is expected to substantially add to the company’s customer base. The on-going Weldy Lamont Rural Electrification Project and other projects will add over a thousand communities to the company’s customer base. This will obviously add to the region’s peak demand. As such the expeditious resolution of the country’s energy supply challenge will go a long way to improve ECG’s customer service and revenue collection.