"Lights Out, Plans Off: Why ECG’s July 23rd Maintenance Feels Bigger Than Just Electricity"
Last year, I missed an important Zoom interview because the lights went out mid-sentence. Just poof—no warning, no apology. My laptop died, the fan stopped spinning, and there I was, sweating and staring into darkness, wondering if the HR lady thought I vanished on purpose. Since then, I’ve developed a kind of love-hate relationship with ECG maintenance announcements.
So, when I saw the latest headline—“Planned Maintenance on Wednesday, July 23, 2025”—I sighed out loud. Not again.
To be fair, they did announce it.
It’s not one of those surprise outages that ambush you at 3pm while you’re cooking rice and binge-watching “The Chosen One” on Netflix. This one’s scheduled. Affected areas have been listed (yep, I checked—my area’s there), and it’s supposed to start from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Classic 8-hour daylight robbery.
But here’s the thing: even when it’s planned, it still throws everything off.
Because life doesn’t pause just because ECG says it should. People work from home now. Kids do online classes. Barbers, seamstresses, cold store owners—everyone gets affected. It’s like a domino effect. One switch off in Osu or Madina, and suddenly someone can’t meet a deadline, a shop can’t stay open, or a woman can’t refrigerate the soup she spent three hours preparing.
And let’s not pretend we all trust that “9 to 5” promise.
Sometimes they fix it early. Most times, they don’t. I’ve had days where “just a few hours” stretched into nightfall. Candles lit. Phones dead. Food going bad. And me—just pacing around like a disappointed father waiting for ECG to “come back from town.”
Honestly, I get that maintenance is necessary. Infrastructure gets old. Wires need fixing. Transformers blow up. (Still don’t fully understand what a transformer does, but I know it can ruin your day real quick.)
In my opinion, ECG could do better at helping us prepare. I mean, a little more detail wouldn’t hurt. Not just: “Ashaiman, Adabraka, Kasoa, and surrounding areas”. Be specific. Which parts? For how long? Any backup plans? Or is everyone just supposed to fend for themselves?
I know this sounds like a rant—but it’s more than that.
It’s a reflection of how something as simple as electricity still controls so much of our lives. In 2025. In cities where we tweet, Tiktok, and order shawarma online, we still lose hours—whole days—because someone, somewhere, didn’t upgrade a cable in time.
So yeah, July 23rd’s coming. I’m charging my power bank, storing water, and moving deadlines. Again.
But I can't help but ask: at what point do we stop accepting this as “normal”? When do we stop celebrating the return of power like it’s some miracle and start demanding consistency like it’s our right?
Maybe the lights will go off that day. Maybe not. But either way, I hope something switches on in all of us.