ECG cuts power to Yilo, lowering Manya Krobo once more.
Residents and business owners in the Eastern Region's Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipalities are bracing for uncertain days ahead due to what appears to be an indefinite power outage.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has shut down its operations in the Krobo area for the second time in seven months, following months of hostility caused by the deployment of prepaid meters in the area.
As a result, the area has been without power since 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
The current outage has been caused by what the company describes as unscrupulous people tampering with its properties, which has affected its network system.
Prior to the total shutdown, parts of Lower Manya Krobo, including Agomanya Ablotsi, Agormanor, Agbom, Yohe, Yokuenor, Abansey, Saisi, Nuaso Old Town, and parts of Kpongunor, had been without power since Wednesday, July 20.
According to power distributors, the outage was caused by saboteurs who cut ECG fiber cables and tampered with its service lines.
Days later, the Company stated that its efforts to resolve the issue were hampered by threats to the lives of its personnel who responded to the situation.
As part of efforts to address the issue, Konor of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite II, invited personnel from the Electricity Company of Ghana to his Palace on Tuesday, where he encouraged them to return to work to repair all faulty transformers that had rendered some parts of the Municipal dark.
Residents in the Kpongunor and Nuaso suburbs who were fed up with the prolonged outage allegedly restored supply by tampering with the service lines.
Frustrated ECG customers accused the power company of deliberately delaying power to punish its customers in the face of the ongoing prepaid metering controversy.
Despite opposition from some communities to the installation of the meters, the exercise has been completed successfully in Kpong and many other areas of Somanya.
Things came to a head, however, on the evening of Wednesday, July 27, when residents of Nuaso confronted an ECG and military team who had reportedly gone to work on a transformer in the area.
The transformer in question, it was learned, was one of the damaged equipment that caused the area's power supply to be disrupted, and it was said to have been repaired by residents.
As a result, the team's presence raised suspicions that they were there to cut the power again. This enraged locals, who gathered in rage and confronted the ECG, with the military withdrawing in the process.
Residents in Nuaso and nearby Kpongunor burned tyres around transformers and on roads leading to the facilities late at night.
Power was cut off in the entire Krobo area two hours after the clash.
Many people believe the Company is being unfair by punishing the entire area when they did not face opposition in other communities where the exercise was successfully carried out.
To protect the lives of its employees, the Company has temporarily halted the prepaid metering exercise.
When contacted, Miss Sakyiwaa Mensah, PRO of the ECG, Tema Region, stated that the company would respond to the current outage "in due time."
The ECG similarly shut down its Bulk Supply Point (BSP) at Kpong for a week in December 2021, denying power supply to the area due to similar issues.
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