The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has bemoaned the excess loss of power it distributed to the Northern Region in 2024, revealing a 46% loss of distributed power in the region for that year alone.
In a press briefing held in Tamale on Tuesday, February 25, the acting managing director of NEDCo, Mr. John Okine Yamoah, disclosed that last year, NEDCo lost 45.9 percent of the power distributed, emphasizing that “no businessman can sustain his business with this kind of loss.”
He revealed that even though other factors contributed to the high rate of power distribution loss, about 70 percent of the power lost was attributed to power theft.
“Not all of our 45% power distribution loss is as a result of power theft, but the majority of it is power theft. I can guess that about 70 to 80% of our losses [in the Northern Region],” he lamented.
The acting MD added, “So it’s a major challenge for us, and most of the power theft, we find it in Tamale and Yendi.”
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Mr. Okine Yamoah also bemoaned the effects of the Bawku conflict on its revenue mobilization, disclosing that NEDCo lost 29 percent of the power it distributed last year in the Upper East Region.
“In all the areas that we operate in: Sunyani, Techiman, Bolga [and] Wa, the losses we have in these areas are within a certain limit. Apart from Upper East, that has gone up to 29 percent last year as a result of the fight in Bawku, for which reason we’re unable to go there and monitor our meters and do all the checks we need to do, which has resulted in our losses going up in these areas,” he explained
He assured that, as part of plans to find a permanent solution to the challenge, the company is adopting strategies, including setting up zonal loss control units in the Tamale Metropolis and embarking on night operations to clamp down on illegal connections.
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He also noted that the NEDCo was in talks with the Chief Justice to establish power theft courts to speedily prosecute persons arrested for illegal connection.
Mr. Okine Yamoah said although previous strategies such as the introduction of smart meters did not solve the problem, he was of the firm belief that these new strategies will go a long way to curbing the situation.