Electrical engineer Ing. Hesford Quaye-Larbi has said the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) could generate substantial revenue to strengthen the country’s power sector by reducing its technical and commercial losses, without necessarily increasing electricity tariffs.

According to him, ECG currently loses about 27 per cent of the electricity supplied to it through weaknesses in the distribution network, illegal connections and revenue collection challenges.

Speaking on the financial difficulties confronting the power sector, Ing. Quaye-Larbi said addressing these losses would provide significant resources for improving electricity infrastructure and settling obligations to power producers.

Asked on JoyFM's Super Morning Show whether the need for additional funding should result in higher tariffs, he responded: “Not really. We are losing 27 per cent."

"If we are able to collect it, I cannot immediately give the total amount involved, but it will do a lot,” he said on Tuesday, September 1.

He explained that ECG’s inability to collect revenue for all the electricity it sells creates a financial shortfall across the entire power value chain.

“What ECG sells, it is unable to collect all the revenue. The system losses, which are both technical and commercial, also add to the problem,” he said.

Ing. Quaye-Larbi likened the situation to a business losing more than a quarter of the goods entrusted to it for sale.

“If you are given 100 goods to sell and you lose 27, it means you have made losses,” he stated.

He said the revenue losses affect ECG’s capacity to pay independent power producers and other suppliers, who require funds to procure fuel and operate their generation plants.

“You need to collect the revenue to pay the IPPs and the power suppliers so that they can also generate. They are buying fuel to run their plants,” he explained.

The electrical engineer identified illegal connections, overloaded transformers and ageing or inadequate distribution infrastructure as some of the factors contributing to losses in the sector.

He noted that when transformers and electricity lines carry loads beyond their designed capacity, they record higher losses and become vulnerable to faults that may cause power outages.

Ing. Quaye-Larbi called for stronger revenue collection measures, effective action against illegal connections and increased investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure.