Residents of Afadjato South district of the Volta region are lamenting recent unreliable and erratic power supply in the area.
According to the residents, areas most affected by this unfortunate erratic power supply include Logba-Alakpeti, Logba-Adzakoe, Logba-Tota, Logba-Vuinta and Logba- Akusame, Ve, Tafi and Fume.
Mr Emmanuel Edem Afadzi, a resident and cold store operator in the area, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said, ‘Power outages or fluctuations has become an everyday feature, frustrating our businesses.’
He explained that the area was gradually becoming an agricultural hub considering the number of cottage industries that abound in the area and the employment these industries had created and wondered why the ECG would continue to ‘be unprofessional with poor service delivery.’
Mr Afadzi further alleged that ‘Cold store operators have to deal with huge losses since most of the time, generator sets cannot power our refrigerators satisfactorily resulting in products getting spoilt.
‘Most areas in Ve, have factories, and there is need for constant electricity supply so our businesses can flourish.’
One of the communities, Logba-Alakpeti said to be the centre of the Volta region, is a vibrant market centre – on a market day, it is the scene of a buoyant market, attracting several traders from far and near, Mr Afadzi explained.
ECG must serve the area with regular power supply for continuous business activities, he said.
A nurse who pleaded anonymity said health centres were also affected by this erratic power supply.
She said, the potency of drugs especially vaccines at various health centres could not be guaranteed since ‘we have to run around almost every day finding alternatives to storing of vaccines.’
The residents appealed to the ECG, to as a matter of urgency, find a lasting solution to the situation to forestall further damage to their electronic gadgets and business.
The Electricity Company of Ghana Limited recently embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilization to enable it pay power producers and invest to expand its network.
Customers have been asking ECG to deliver efficient and reliable services to customers since customers pay for the power they use.
Meanwhile, residents in especially Logba and Ve areas, have threatened to hit the streets if nothing was done about the situation.
They have given the power distribution company a two-week ultimatum to replace old and faulty transformers and work on any other situation that would not guarantee efficient and reliable service delivery to the affected communities.
Mr Benjamin Obeng Antwi, Volta Regional Public Relations Officer of ECG, explained to the GNA that the Company lost some transformers recently in that enclave, when an unknown individual cut a tree, which fell on the service lines, causing considerable destruction to the system.
He added that a rainstorm accompanied by heavy storm, caused some trees to again fall on service lines and that was responsible for the erratic power situation.
He said the Company was mobilizing and replacing the transformers and working to re-route the service lines to enable power to be restored and apologised to the customers for the inconvenience caused them as a result.
Mr Antwi said a report had been made to the Police to investigate the issue of that individual in the tree felling episode to face justice.
Source: Ghana News Agency
