The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says it has commenced investigations into the cause of the fire outbreak at its Achimota Bulk Supply Point (BSP), which disrupted power supply in parts of Accra.
According to the General Manager for External Communications at ECG, Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku in an interview on the Channel One Newsroom on Sunday May 4, the exact cause of the incident is yet to be determined, but a full probe is currently underway.
“No, we’ve not been able to identify the cause of the fire outbreak. Just after the incident, we launched an investigation into the cause, so I’m sure in a few days or weeks, we should be able to come out with a report on the actual cause of the fire at our substation,” he said in a media briefing.
Ayiku also confirmed that the damaged earthing transformer, which was affected by the fire, has already been replaced.
“It has been replaced. In fact, it was replaced immediately. So, currently we are just doing some tests and observing the new earthing transformer which has been installed,” he added.
Meanwhile the affected areas included Kanda, parts of Cantonments, Kwabenya, Haatso, Legon, and Madina.
Giving details of the incident earlier, Francis Kofi Atsyatsya, ECG’s General Manager for Sub-Transmission in Accra, told Channel One News that the problem stemmed from a sudden equipment failure.
“Around 10:35, we had a blast on our protective device, causing outages to customers around Kanda, part of Cantonments, Kanda, Legon, Haatso and Madina. So we called in the fire service to assist us by quenching the fire as we take our time to figure out what exactly caused the blast,” he explained.
Atsyatsya said the station had to be isolated for safety as fire personnel worked to douse the flames. After the fire was contained, ECG technicians worked to reroute power to the affected areas through nearby supply points.
“The entire station was isolated for the fire service men to carry out their work. After they were done, we tried to restore the source of light for the affected customers by transferring them to the adjoining bulk supply point that we have in Accra. So as at 1:20, we were able to provide light to all the affected customers. As we speak, everybody who was affected by the outage is back on supply,” he added.
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