The Electricity Company of Ghana, Tema region is incensed by deliberate attempts by some individuals to derail progress made in power supply by attacking its equipment.
The nefarious act according to the region is militating against constant supply of electricity to customers.
Regional Engineer, Ing. Emmanuel Appoe disclosed this to Joy Business at a media engagement and visit to the company’s Station “H” at Tema Industrial area which serves as both Bulk Supply Point and a substation.
“We suspect a syndicate which continues to pull down transformers with the intention of stealing copper wire”
“This is a huge challenge for us because our secondary substation population is getting to 4000 and we cannot be by the transformers all the time,” he said.
He cited an instance where about two weeks ago some miscreants went to Prampram around 4:30am and put off a transformer plunging the area into darkness.
“Residents at the time thought it was a power outage from ECG. Later in the day, these persons came around with a car and told the residents their transformer was faulty and needed to be repaired”.
“The unsuspecting residents looked on as the miscreants made away with the transformer. Upon learning of the incident, we had to replace it to restore power,” Ing. Appoe said.
Apart from security implication of the act which has become a trend in Tema region, ECG is bearing the brunt by replacing these transformers and this is taking a toll on the company financially.
Ing. Emmanuel Appoe appealed to media houses to help conscientize the public in safeguarding these equipment.
“We believe when we all put our shoulders to the wheel some suspects can be brought to book to serve as deterrent to others,” he urged.
Tema region is also collaborating with security agencies to help end this criminal act.
Within the structures of Electricity Company of Ghana, Tema region goes as far as some parts of the Volta and Eastern regions.