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Thousand of uncertified electricians in the country will be prohibited from operating beginning this week as the Energy Commission begins full implementation of the Electrical Wiring Regulation 2011(LI. 2008) passed by Parliament of Ghana in 2011 as an intervention to curb the spate of fire outbreaks triggered by electrical faults in the country.

According to the Commission, at the end of the four-year period of grace given to electricians to be certified, some 5,726 electricians were certified nationwide. The rest who have not been certified will be prohibited from executing wiring and any other electrical installations from this week.

The Lead Officer of the Electrical Wiring Programme, Mr Solomon Sarpong, said per the regulation, the public is required by law to engage only Certified Electrical Wiring Professionals (CEWP) as those qualified for connection to the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana.

He made this known during a media interaction in Koforidua. He said existing facilities older than 10 years are required by law to be audited to ensure that problems identified in the current flow and wiring are rectified.

Mr Sarpong explained that a facility that is not wired by a certified electrician will be denied insurance claims in case of fire outbreak.

He said estimate for wiring is likely to go up because CEWP is required by law to use high quality electrical materials for wiring and installations which must also be tested by certified electrical wiring inspectors.

The Energy Commission also served notice to embark on a nationwide audit of gas and fuel filling stations to ensure that electrical installations and wiring conform to standard to prevent fire outbreaks.

According to the Commission, wiring and installations of gas and fuel filling stations require special electronic installations due to flammable environment in which they operate.

“If you go to filling stations like this, the switches and other things we use in the house should not be same thing at the filling stations, because when you put on your switch sometimes you see some fire so there are some specialised switches that are supposed to be used in filling stations,” Mr Sarpong stated.

The Commission is threatening to disconnect such stations and other public facilities, including Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, and hotels found to have critical electrical problems as part of the full enforcement of the law.