The negative effects of ‘dumsor’ - An ECG engineer’s perspective

A lot has been said and written about the negative effects of the ongoing nationwide load shedding exercise on individuals, schools, health institutions, businesses and the national economy in general. Very little, if any, has been heard about the effects of the energy crisis on the company at the centre of it all, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Even though a lot of education has been done to let people know that the current crisis is a result of a generation deficit, which has nothing to do with the ECG, majority of customers in Ghana pay their bills to ECG or buy prepaid electricity units from ECG and have therefore not spared the company in their criticisms and bashing.

Corporate image
ECG is now referred to as the ‘Dumsor Dumsor’ company, Except Candle or Generator, Dark and Lovely, Stay De-lighted etc and has become the butt of jokes on social media and radio stations. I can understand the Ghanaian penchant for using jokes in the midst of a crisis situation as a means of accommodating or coming to terms with the situation. However, as a business entity which has had its own image problems in the past, the current crisis has severely dented ECG’s corporate image and it would take a deliberate and sustained effort to recover some modicum of respect to the organisation. A colleague has even complained (jokingly) about the resistance he faces from other road users when trying to join the main road, simply because he is using an ECG branded pick-up!

Cashflow problems
What most people don’t know is that the current crisis has affected the company financially. The fact that ECG is not selling as much power as it would have sold if there was no load shedding directly affects the cashflow of the company. Obviously, when preparing the budget for this year, the effect of the load shedding was factored into our expected cashflows. However, available figures indicate that the total cash inflows of the company as of June this year was less than 80 per cent of expected or budgeted cash inflows. Meanwhile the customer base of the company keeps growing, with new customers being connected everyday. The operational resources of the company therefore have to be extended to meet this growing demand. The annual load growth rate of about 12 per cent means that ECG has to find the money to extend and expand its infrastructure to satisfy all customers inspite of the load shedding exercise.

Maintenance costs
Another area where the load shedding has negatively impacted on ECG is the cost of maintenance. It is a well known fact that anytime the company goes through a load shedding programme, maintenance costs increase due to increased equipment failure. The electrical network components such as switchgear, transformers, cables etc were not designed to be switched on and off everyday the way we have done for the past three and a half years. The switching surges that accompany every high voltage switching activity certainly affect the integrity of these equipment and reduces their lifespan. That is what explains why some customers who are supposed to come back on supply at say 6a.m. or 6p.m. would come on briefly and go off after a few seconds. It is most likely that an equipment failure has occurred and the supply has ‘tripped off’. Such customers would have to be transferred onto an alternative source, if there is one, or the fault has to be repaired before restoring supply.
There is also the cost of replacement of stolen or vandalised equipment which is a new phenomenon. Some unscrupulous people have been stealing parts of our substation equipment under the cover of darkness whenever there is load shedding in an area. Such people I must say, are treading on very dangerous grounds because the supply can be restored at any time without warning and the consequences could be fatal. The public needs to be educated to abstain from any form of contact with the ECG network even when the supply appears to be off. Conservative estimates suggest that maintenance costs have increased by about 10 per cent annually due to the load shedding exercise.

System improvements/ extensions
Inspite of the aforementioned factors, ECG is still investing in system improvement and extension projects throughout all the operational areas of the company. Every year, budgetary provision is made for such projects to improve upon the quality of supply to existing customers while taking care of the ever increasing demand for power as mentioned earlier. In a country where simple residential properties are converted into high rise commercial/office complexes without any notice whatsoever to the utility companies, such provisions are necessary to build enough capacity to ensure that we are always able to meet the power requirements of any new customer who comes on board. In fact, it is estimated that, at the current load growth rate of 12 per cent per annum, ECG would have to double its infrastructure every eight years! In other words, ECG will have to invest about $200M USD every year for the next eight years. This would clearly be unachievable if the current situation persists.

The way forward
All stakeholders must get on board to find a permanent solution to this crisis. From the plans and projects put in place by the government, the Power Minister’s end of year deadline for ending the load shedding exercise is certainly achievable. However, for sustainability in the long term, a comprehensive energy development plan needs to be put in place. The planning divisions of ECG, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) and Volta River Authority (VRA) have copious documents on how to meet the energy demands of the country for the next five, 10, 15 up to 20 years. A 10 to 20-year plan with clear milestones and timelines, that would be insulated from the ‘wrangling’ that characterise our political transitions, is the surest way to ensure that we don’t traverse this road again. That is why all stakeholders, including political parties, need to be part of the process.