ECG loses GHC1.2bn in transmission

Transmission losses by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) need to be curtailed in order to make the power distribution company efficient and profitable, Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko has said.

He has, therefore, charged ECG and all relevant stakeholders to institute the right measures to reverse the trend.

Mr Agyarko, who was speaking on the second day of the National Policy Summit in Accra on Tuesday May 16, bemoaned the amount of power that goes to waste.

“Twenty-one percent of power supply to ECG is lost. Every percentage point of power lost is equivalent to GHS60million,” Mr Agyarko noted.

Even though he admitted that technical transmission losses were inevitable, he pointed out that a loss of 21 per cent of power to be sold to consumers makes the company unprofitable.

He was not enthused about the “significant” quantum of losses by other Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that load unto the national grid for clients.