The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has raised concerns over the rampant theft of switch gear covers for their power transformers within the Accra East distribution area.
Speaking on the continuous and worrying situation, Bismark Otoo, General Manager of ECG Accra East Region, said so far, over 15 of those covers have been removed.
He added that although the ECG has not been able to apprehend any specific persons yet, it suspects scrap dealers as being the ones behind the theft.
“We are trying to draw the attention of the public to the fact that part of our distribution network, which is the switches that connect our underground AV cables, are being vandalised by the public.
“And so, we want to draw the attention of the public and the security agencies to support us in trying to curb this kind of menace, which is impacting negatively on our work, by way of supply availability to customers in the metropolis of Accra, because, when these switches are vandalised, they remove covers on them, and by so doing, they weaken the insulations we put on them, and then with time, the switches explode, resulting in power outages to the public. It can also cause accidents if someone standing by, or walking by, unknowingly gets in touch, the person can get electrocuted.
“So far, we have not been able to apprehend someone specifically, but we suspect those scrap dealers who deal in scraps, because these items, when you remove them, it is only those who deal in scraps that can buy them… they see them to be metal and once they see them as such, they have that scrap value for them,” he explained.
Bismark Otoo further noted that the ECG started noticing these theft cases about two months ago.
“As we speak, over 15 of the switches have had their covers removed as at now and we are doing our best to cover them. When it happened like this, because we don’t keep spares for these things, we fall on the retired switches,” he said.
He added that in a way to avert this, the ECG has started fencing these installations.
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AE
One of the power transformers that have been vandalised