The Energy Commission is to implement the electrical wiring regulations which will ban uncertified electricians from operating in the country, its Associate Programmes Officer, Stephen Yamoah has said.
“Very soon all electricians would have to be certified by the Energy Commission, go through an examination before you are certified, if you don’t have a certificate you cannot parade yourself as such
The regulations specifically are to ensure only qualified electricians in the country operates as well as monitor how electrical works should be done with right materials are used for electrical wiring,” Mr. Yamoah said.
The Electrical Wiring Regulation 2011 (LI 2008) passed by Parliament in 2012 and came into force on 24th February has three key objectives: Who qualifies to engage in any electrical wiring of properties in Ghana, how wiring is done and the kind of materials used to wire properties in the country.
To enforce this, Mr. Yamoah said, the Commission has tied the exercise to service connections. “In this regard, if a facility is not wired by a Certified Electrical Wiring Professional (CEWP), who will eventually, issue an Installation Completion Certificate, the facility will not be connected to the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana”.
An examination syllabus has since been developed in conjunction with the Technical and vocational Education Directorate (TVED) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), a third staged (oral, written and practical) composite certification examination designed to assess practitioners for certification on the basics of the syllabus.
The first examination was conducted in November 2013 by the Technical Examination Unit (TEU) on behalf of the Energy Commission and since then had been conducted in May/June every year in 4 locations across the country.
This had led to the certification of over 5000 electricians nationwide who are referred to as Certified Electrical Wiring Professionals (CEWP) and Certified Electrical Wiring Inspectors (CEWI).
The Energy Commission stated that the commission will from hence declare any facility which is not done by CEWP and inspected by CEWI unsafe for electrical connection hence an introduction of a slogan “No CEWP, No electricity connection”.
All new buildings across the country without wiring certificates will have their power-supply cut off from the national grid.
Mr. Yamoah indicated that the enforcement of the Electrical Wiring Regulation has been gradual but consistent in period of 2013 to 2015 was dedicated to certifying a significant number of practitioners across the country to ensure availability of adequate numbers of CEWP and CEWI with a good spread in the country to serve customers.
He revealed that a mobile App dubbed “Certified Electrician “(available on Google play store) has been introduced which can be used to find contact certified electricians and inspectors by name and location and report malpractices to the Commission if need be.
Mr. Yamoah however stressed that the commission will soon prevent non CEWP and CEWI operate in the country until they get certified by the Commission.
thebftonline.com l Ghana
