Energy Commission to ban uncertified electricians from operating

The energy commission has announced that it will soon kick off with the implementation of the electrical wiring regulations which will ban uncertified electricians from operating in the country.

The Electrical Wiring Regulation 2011 (LI 2008) passed by Parliament in 2012 and came into force on 24th February has three key objectives: Who qualifies to engage in any electrical wiring of properties in Ghana, how wiring is done and the kind of materials used to wire properties in the country .

Associate Programs Officer at the Energy Commission Stephen Yamoah said, the regulations specifically are to ensure only qualified electricians in Ghana operates as well as monitor how electrical works should be done with right materials are used for electrical wiring.

"Very soon all electricians would have to be certified by the Energy Commission, go through an exam before you are certified, if you don't have a certificate you cannot parade yourself as such’’, Mr. Yamoah said

To enforce this, the Commission has tied the exercise to service connections. In this regard, if a facility is not wired by a Certified Electrical Wiring Professional (CEWP), who will eventually, issue an Installation Completion Certificate, the facility will not be connected to the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana”.

An examination syllabus has since been developed in conjunction with the Technical and vocational Education Directorate (TVED) of the Ghana Education service (GES), a 3 staged (oral, written and practical) composite certification examination designed to assess practitioners for certification on the basics of the syllabus.

The first examination was conducted in November 2013 by the Technical Examination Unit (TEU) on behalf of the Energy Commission and since then had been conducted in May/June every year in 4 locations across the country. This had led to the certification of over 5000 electricians nationwide who are referred to as Certified Electrical Wiring Professionals (CEWP) and Certified Electrical Wiring Inspectors (CEWI).

Speaking in an interview with OTEC NEWS’ Seth Kwarteng, Associate Programs Officer at the Energy Commission stated that the commission will from hence declare any facility which is not done by CEWP and inspected by CEWI unsafe for electrical connection hence an introduction of a slogan “No CEWP, No electricity connection”.

All new buildings across the country without wiring certificates will have their power-supply cut off from the national grid. Mr. Yamoah added that the enforcement of the Electrical Wiring Regulation has been gradual but consistent in period of 2013 to 2015 was dedicated to certifying a significant number of practitioners across the country to ensure availability of adequate numbers of CEWP and CEWI with a good spread in the country to serve customers.

He revealed that a mobile App dubbed “Certified Electrician “(available on Google play store) has been introduced which can be used to find contact certified electricians and inspectors by name and location and report malpractices to the commission if need be.

Mr. Yamoah however stressed that the commission will soon prevent non CEWP and CEWI operate in the country until they get certified by the commission.