The Ashanti West branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has appealed to residents to help safeguard electrical infrastructure, warning that vandalism, vehicle crashes into poles, and unsafe construction activities are contributing to frequent power outages.

Speaking on Luv FM on Monday, April 20, Public Relations Officer for Ashanti West ECG, Benjamin Ohene Antwi, said the company is dealing with both planned and unplanned disruptions across parts of the Ashanti Region.

His comments followed a five-hour overnight shutdown linked to maintenance work at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.

The planned shutdown, announced by Ghana Grid Company Limited and Ghana National Gas Company, took place from midnight to 5:00 a.m. to allow engineers replace a damaged Burner Management System controller.

Mr Antwi acknowledged growing public frustration over outages and apologised to affected customers. He said many of the disruptions are being worsened by preventable damage to ECG installations.

“Some cables for the transformer around the substation at the Oforikrom Police Station had been vandalised, also leading to an outage which we had to fix as well,” he said.

According to him, the vandalism disrupted the electricity supply to Anloga Junction, Bomso, Ayigya, and nearby communities.

He added that the matter has been reported to the police, but no arrests have been made so far.

Mr Antwi also expressed concern over repeated incidents involving vehicles crashing into utility poles.

“It looks like whenever someone loses control over their vehicle, the next option is to run into an ECG network. We want our customers to know that that is not fair,” he stated.

The ECG official further criticised the erection of tall billboards under transmission lines and the construction of buildings around utility poles, describing such practices as dangerous.

He cited areas including Adiembra-Atasamanso and Ohwimase Hilltop, where concrete structures built around poles have weakened installations and increased the risk of collapse during rainfall.

Despite the challenges, Mr Antwi assured residents that ECG is working to improve service reliability across the region.

“We want to assure our customers that we are working seriously to improve the system,” he said.

ECG has urged the public to report suspicious activity around transformers, cables and other installations to the nearest ECG office or police station.