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The Energy Commission is entreating churches, hotels, companies, schools and residential areas, especially those that have been wired for more than 10 years to audit the wiring in those facilities to correct defects, or risk being disconnected.

Public Relations Manger, Victor Owusu, who made this directive known to The Finder, stated that the call forms part of the commission’s full enforcement of the Electrical Wiring Regulations.

He indicated that, “The rationale is to protect lives and properties because in the past we realised that there were numerous fire outbreaks which were associated with poor electrical wiring, and we want to stop these fires.

“Per the regulations, only a certified electrical wiring professional is authorised to carry out electrical wiring exercise.” 
He was speaking on the sidelines of a stakeholders’ conference to sensitise the general public to use only certified electrical wiring professionals for internal wiring in residential, commercial and industrial buildings and facilities from October 1, this year.

The meeting brought together electrical wiring professionals, police officers, representatives from the ECG, personnel from the Fire Service, and representatives of trader association, church leaders and hoteliers.

Owusu mentioned, for instance, that the commission has disconnected electricity to one of the hotels in the country due to poor electrical wiring system as the commission moves into full force to enforce the Electrical Wiring Regulations 2012, LI 2008.

The said a hotel, whose name and location he withheld, has been operating for several years, but upon auditing its wiring system, it was detected that it posed danger to the employees of the hotel, as well as their clients, hence the disconnection.

He said the owner of the said hotel has been made to correct the electrical wiring defects and submit a report to the commission for assessment before electricity will be restored to the facility.

The Principal Programme Officer at the Energy Commission, Mr Solomon Sarpong, said the commission has so far deployed about 220 inspectors across the country to enforce the regulations.

“These electrical wiring inspectors are going to make sure that if you go to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to request for electricity connection to your house, they go and inspect your wiring to ascertain whether it was undertaken by certified electrical wiring professional or not. And once you do not meet the requirements, you will not be connected,” he said.

He added that, “Apart from you being denied connection to the national grid, the law also says that you could be fined 250 penalty units (GH¢12,000), or in default go to jail for two years.”

He called on Ghanaians to be safety conscious and employ the services of certified electrical professionals, to avoid fire outbreaks in their homes.

Since 2012 when the Electrical Wiring Regulations 2012, LI 2008 was passed by Parliament, the Energy Commission has trained over 5,000 electrical wiring professionals.