The Obuasi East Municipal Assembly has provided two communities in Obuasi with a 200KVA 33 KV pole-mounted transformer to restore electricity supply to residents who have been off the national grid for the past six months.
Asonkore and Kwabenakwa have for the past few years battled inconsistent power supply due to enormous pressure on the existing transformer caused by an increase in the number of residents. Even before the two transformers supplying the communities broke down beyond repair, officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) suspected that some residents were illegally siphoning power.
The ECG had since been conducting checks to identify and disconnect those perpetrators from the grid, and had been adamant about providing the communities with a new transformer as investigations continued. However, considering the ripple effects on residents, the assembly stepped in to bear the cost of the transformers to help restore power while ECG continued with its investigations.
The Municipal Chief Executive of Obuasi East, William Kofi Adzowu, on Monday, August 3, 2026, led an entourage, including ECG officials, to the communities to officially hand over the transformers for immediate installation.
"We know what it means to be in darkness for barely six months. So the Assembly has accepted the responsibility to cover this financial burden," the MCE said during separate brief meetings with residents before handing over the appliance.
He further noted that the assembly's task force was closely collaborating with ECG to help fish out illegal subscribers to face the full rigours of the law, while urging law-abiding residents to blow the whistle.
The acting District Manager of ECG, Celestine Essel, said the pressure which led to the breakdown of the existing transformers had been identified.
"Because, if you look at the number of subscribers we have in our books and compare to the enormous power they consume, it is outrageous. No wonder the transformers broke down," she observed, and advised residents to stop those illegalities for their own good.
As ECG prepared to install the transformers, she charged residents who owed the company before the power cut to pay their bills, and noted that ECG had been reluctant to come to the communities to collect the bills because of the existing power crisis.
The two communities commended the assembly for having the plight of the people at heart and for the timely intervention. At Asonkore, the Head of Family, John Carr, lauded the assembly for the intervention, saying "this would bring back life to our community".
He said the power cut to the area had worsened the economic woes of the people, and that the community would be forever grateful to the assembly. However, one key challenge in the community, he admitted, was their poor road network system, and he called on the assembly to come to their aid.
