The Electricity Company of Ghana in Ashanti is attributing recent power outages experienced by business owners and residents in the Central Business District of Adum to the theft of electrical installation and vandalism of a transformer at its substation in the area.

The power distribution company is reporting that some unknown persons stealing essential parts of a 500KVA ground-mounted transformer near the Old Melcom at the market centre.

The suspected thieves are said to have bolted with fuses, cables, distribution pillars and other essential components of the transformer.

The illegal act has resulted in a prolonged outage impacting economic activities within the Adum Central Business Centre.

Public Relations Officer for Ashanti West Region of ECG, Benjamin Obeng Antwi, revealed the illegal act has plunged thousands of power consumers within Adum into darkness.

He bemoaned the rampant vandalism of ECG installations in the Ashanti region.

The situation, he says, is affecting the power company’s core mandate to deliver quality, reliable and safe electricity services to the region.

“Lately, people have been vandalizing our poles, cables and transformers with the latest being a 500KVA transformer at Adum near the Old Melcom. This is not the first time such a thing has happened, any time we go there to replace a fuse, these individuals go there to steal it,” he said.

The company says it is working around the clock to restore power supply to affected customers.

“Our engineers are currently working assiduously to restore power supply to the affected customers before the close of day on Tuesday. We would also want to apologise to customers and businesses affected by this illegal act and urge our customers to help protect ECG installations,” he said.

Mr. Obeng Antwi described the development as unfortunate and urged the public to own ECG installations in their various communities and be vigilant to prevent such theft cases.

“Currently, businesses are affected because once the transformer is vandalised the power supply will be curtailed so imagine if there was a hospital there, how will patients survive? If there was a school there, how would students learn? We humbly appeal to the public to help us curb the menace of transformer theft and also setting fires to burn poles,” he said.

He continued: “Without the help of our customers and the general public, we cannot stop this act alone, so please let’s be vigilant. Let’s own and protect ECG installations (poles, cables, and transformers) in our respective electoral areas”.