Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has announced that the government is finalising plans to operationalise a centralised command and control centre designed to dramatically improve response times to power-related complaints across the country.
Speaking during a working visit to the Ashanti regional unit of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in Kumasi on Friday, Mr. Jinapor said the centre — developed in partnership with the Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) — will harness modern technology to transform how faults are reported and resolved.
“In the age of modern technology, you can also use technology to monitor,” Mr. Jinapor said. “We are setting up a full command and control centre under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy, the Energy Commission and the PURC. We’ve already set it up; we are just operationalising it.”
Multiple Channels and New Equipment for District Managers
The centre will operate through several communication channels, including a dedicated short code, phone line, WhatsApp, Facebook, and email. Customers will be able to report outages, faulty transformers, and other disruptions directly to a centralised monitoring system.
As part of the overhaul, every ECG district manager will receive a new mobile phone with a dedicated contact line linked directly to the centre. Mr. Jinapor argued that the current reality of citizens calling district offices for days without response is both unacceptable and economically damaging.
“Why should somebody complain that for two days, he’s been calling a so-called district office and nobody’s coming?” the minister asked. “Those two days that you are not supplying power, you are losing revenue. Apart from the inconvenience, apart from the passion that the government receives, you lose revenue when you don’t supply the power.”
Tracking Transformers and Boosting Accountability
Beyond outage reporting, the minister revealed that every new transformer installed across the country will be logged onto a digital tracking system and made visible to the public. The measure is intended to curb the disappearance of power infrastructure and improve general management of the distribution network.
“Everywhere we install transformers, it will be logged into that system; it will be made public so that the people in that area will know that, indeed, a transformer has been installed,” Mr. Jinapor explained.
The centre will also enable real-time detection of faulty transformers, allowing engineers to respond before minor issues escalate into prolonged blackouts. The acting Managing Director of ECG, Julius Kpekpena, confirmed that the company had already completed the replacement of higher-capacity transformers at the Ridge bulk supply station in Kumasi ahead of schedule, pledging that further upgrades are underway.
Ghana’s Longstanding Energy Challenges
Ghana has grappled with chronic power supply issues for nearly two decades, a period marked by recurring episodes of load shedding. Since the fire at the Akosombo sub-station, there has been a renewed call from citizens to resolve these challenges.
Despite being a net exporter of electricity to neighbouring West African countries, the nation has struggled with a combination of aging infrastructure, distribution losses, erratic gas supplies from Nigeria, and financial difficulties at state-owned utilities. The ECG, in particular, has faced criticism over inefficiencies, including high commercial losses from illegal connections and metering inaccuracies, as well as slow response times that leave communities without power for days. Frequent transformer breakdowns, often caused by overloading, have worsened public frustration. The government’s latest initiative seeks to address the communication and accountability gaps that have long plagued the sector, with the minister warning that sabotage or partisanship among workers will not be tolerated.