Electricity Distribution in the Southern Zone

The distribution of electricity in the southern part of Ghana falls under the jurisdiction of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). This encompasses the Greater Accra, Central, Western, Volta, Eastern, Ahafo, Ashanti, Oti, and Western North regions. Within these regions, ECG serves an extensive customer base, exceeding 4 million customers, making it the largest electricity service provider in Ghana, representing approximately 80% of the total customer count. Furthermore, ECG is responsible for the distribution of 87.8% of the total electricity supplied throughout Ghana.

ECG’s customer base consists of:

• Lifeline consumers that consume not more than 50kWh per month
• Non-residential consumers – these customers represent 12 percent of energy consumption and 56 percent of sales revenue
• Non-lifeline residential consumers – these consumers represent 34 percent of energy consumption and 36 percent of sales revenue
• Special Load Tariff and high-voltage mines—these customers represent 48 percent of consumption and seven percent of sales revenue.

The losses designate the difference between the purchases ECG conduct from GRIDCo and the electrical energy it is able to sell to its customers. The losses consist of technical and commercial losses. The first indicate losses as a result of e.g. inefficiencies in the grid. The latter arise from customers not paying for the entirety of the electricity consumer for example through mistakes in the bills, failure to pay or illegal power tapping.

This chart illustrates the distribution losses (both commercial and technical) expressed as a percentage of the total energy purchased by ECG. Following a series of declines post-2011, there has been a recent resurgence in these losses. In 2017, the percentage of losses hit its lowest point at 22.6%, marking a significant drop from the 2011 figure of 30.4%. However, this decline was short-lived, as the losses began to climb again, reaching 24.3% in 2018 and eventually peaking at 30.6% in 2022.

ECG system average interruption reliability frequency can be measured by the number of times that a customer is interrupted during an operational year. The regulatory benchmark, maximum number of outages permitted per year for metro, urban and rural areas is six (6) times.

Although the average interruption frequency in all areas has dropped since 2015 and a commendable downward trend can be noted, the target of 6 interruptions per year has not been reached in any of the areas.

System interruption duration is measured by the average duration of interruptions recorded for the distribution system during an operational year. Regulatory benchmarks vary by area, with 48 hours in metro, 72 hours in urban, and 144 hours in rural zones.

Rural areas have notably reduced interruptions since 2015, staying below the 144-hour benchmark. Metro consistently remained under the 48-hour threshold. Urban areas spiked above the 72-hour limit in 2016 at 146 hours but have since decreased to 44 hours in 2022.