ECG Records Significant System Loss Reduction

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited has recorded a significant reduction in system loss from 27.2 per cent in 2011 to 23.4 per cent in 2012. The Company�s system loss for the first quarter of 2013 stood at 21.8 per cent. The Reverend William Hutton-Mensah, Managing Director of the Company described the latest system loss trend as a �regulatory benchmark�, given the challenges of frequent power outages. He was addressing the 7th quadrennial congress of the Company�s Senior Staff Association (SSA) held in Ho, with the theme: �Improving performance through positive attitude.� Rev. Hutton-Mensah said the Company achieved 98 per cent of its revenue target for 2012. He said the successes chalked in the last 14 months were due to �management�s positive interventions� and gave the assurance that efforts were being made to reduce frequent outages. �Live line work has also been introduced in our operations to reduce outage frequency and duration,� Rev. Hutton-Mensah said. He tasked the SSA to support management�s efforts to instill positive attitudes in the staff of the Company for mutual benefit. Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy and Petroleum in a speech read on his behalf, said though there was improvement in power generation and supply stability in recent times, ECG needed to constantly work towards minimizing the rate of unplanned outages. He called for a change in attitude to ensure efficient service delivery. �The image of every service oriented company is largely dependent on what the customer says about the company. The sum total of the individual impressions we make on the customer become the appropriate tag on the company,� Mr Buah observed. He, therefore, charged the Company to break away from limiting ideas, retrogressive organizational cultures and boundaries that portray or define the Company negatively. The Energy Minister urged staff of the Company to live by the core values contained in the code of ethics of the Company. Mr. Micahel Twum-Barimah Boadu, President of the Senior Staff Association of ECG gave the assurance that members of the Association would support management �to crack the whip where necessary� to salvage the sinking image of the Company. �Acts such as cable theft, illegal connections, computer fraud, extortion and other vices must not be mentioned among us� he admonished. Mr. Boadu noted that the frequent changing of the Company�s Managing Directors was affecting its progress. He called on management to support the Association to embark on a staff housing project on a 120-acre land it had acquired for the purpose