Frequent electricity systems maintenance red flag, not routine

Ghana’s electricity sector is flashing red and we must not ignore the alarm.

The recent surge in scheduled and emergency maintenance operations by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) points to a deeper structural crisis.

These maintenance exercises — occurring with increasing frequency — are no longer just routine interventions.

They reflect a dangerously overstretched transmission and distribution infrastructure that risks a catastrophic system collapse if left unaddressed.

This is not business as usual. In any well-managed power system, maintenance is planned, predictive and preventive — not reactive and disruptive.

When maintenance work begins to dominate operations calendars, it signals underlying stress, underinvestment and system fragility.

Ghana is fast approaching that breaking point. GRIDCo and ECG's ageing assets are bearing loads and stresses they were never designed to carry for this long without reinforcements.

Beyond technical concerns, the economic toll is devastating.

Every hour of unplanned outage due to maintenance translates into significant revenue loss for ECG — already battling with over 27 per cent unaccountable losses and inefficiencies.

Industries shut down. Households suffer.

Trust in the power supply system erodes.

Globally, best practices demand that governments prioritise investments in electricity transmission and distribution as foundational public infrastructure — on par with roads and water systems.

Countries that fail to do so suffer blackouts, industrial flight, and economic stagnation. Ghana cannot afford this.

The time has come for the government to move beyond firefighting – crisis management.

A focused emergency intervention is needed to recapitalise ECG and GRIDCo for strategic investment in transmission lines, substations, transformers and digital monitoring technologies. 

Concessionary loans, infrastructure bonds or targeted budgetary allocations should be considered immediately.

We must stop normalising frequent outages due to so-called maintenance.

These are warnings. Without immediate attention, Ghana could face a widespread, injurious system collapse.

Let us act before that becomes our reality. 

Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor (Ph.D