President John Dramani Mahama has assured Ghanaians that the recent power outages affecting parts of the country are linked to ongoing system upgrades and do not signal a return to the prolonged electricity crisis popularly known as “dumsor.”
His comments come amid rising public concern over intermittent power supply, with some citizens worried about a possible relapse into the erratic outages that previously disrupted households and businesses nationwide.
During a visit to the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) as part of his “Resetting Ghana” tour, President Mahama explained that the disruptions form part of a nationwide programme to strengthen electricity distribution infrastructure and improve long-term reliability.
He disclosed that the government has acquired about 2,500 transformers under the first phase of a broader intervention aimed at replacing ageing and overloaded equipment across the country.
“I’ll appeal to our people. The outages you are facing are not ‘dumsor.’ It is to enable you to get better quality and stable power. Any time transformers are being replaced, people in affected areas should be informed so they are aware their lights will be off for a while,” he said.
The President noted that many existing transformers are no longer adequate due to rapid population growth and expanding communities, pointing out that equipment installed decades ago is now overstretched and unable to meet current demand.
He expressed confidence that the ongoing upgrades will significantly improve power stability once completed, adding that the programme will be implemented in phases to ensure continuous enhancement of service delivery.
Highlighting growing local capacity in the energy sector, President Mahama welcomed the increasing production of transformers in Ghana, describing it as an important step toward strengthening the domestic industry.
“One of the things I’m happy about is that a lot of these transformers are made in Ghana. It helps multiply the benefits for our country. I look forward to the day when all our transformers will be produced locally, helping us fully stabilise the power situation in our country,” he added.
He also urged both the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and NEDCo to improve their responsiveness to customer complaints, stressing the need for faster fault resolution and better communication with consumers.
“NEDCo, ECG, we must now improve our customer response time. And so we need a system where when customers call, there’s a quick response to either rectify faults,” he said.
Energy and Green Transition Minister John Abdulai Jinapor, for his part, indicated that the rollout of new transformers has already begun in parts of the country, including Tamale, Accra, and Tema, with further installations planned for Kumasi and other regions.
He explained that the initiative is intended to address overloaded transformers, reduce outages, and enhance overall system stability. The first phase is expected to last about three months before moving into medium- and long-term implementation stages.
The minister also appealed for public patience during the upgrade works, assuring that customers will be informed ahead of any planned outages.
Together, the interventions form part of a broader government effort to modernise Ghana’s electricity distribution network, improve reliability, and prevent a recurrence of past power supply challenges.
