Residents of Kwashieman, Sowutuom and other parts of Accra were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Wednesday, October 14, 2026, following a fire outbreak at the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) substation at Mallam.
The incident, which occurred at approximately 2:36 a.m., affected one of the transformers at the substation, disrupting electricity supply to several communities served by the facility.
GRIDCo, in a statement issued from Tema on Wednesday, confirmed that an electrical fault at the Mallam Substation resulted in the fire outbreak, triggering the power interruption.
According to the company, personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) responded to the emergency and successfully brought the fire under control.
The swift intervention prevented the fire from spreading further, although the extent of damage to the affected transformer was not disclosed.
Power restoration underway
GRIDCo indicated that electricity supply had been restored to some of the affected areas, while engineers continued working to reconnect communities still experiencing outages.
“Power supply has been restored to parts of the affected areas, while efforts continue to restore supply to the remaining areas as quickly as possible,” the statement said.
The company, however, did not provide a specific timeline for the complete restoration of electricity to all affected communities.
Investigation begins
Meanwhile, GRIDCo has commenced investigations to establish the circumstances surrounding the fire outbreak.
The company disclosed that its engineers were examining the incident to determine the cause of the fault that affected the transformer.
It further announced that arrangements had been initiated to replace the damaged transformer to restore normal operations at the substation.
“GRIDCo’s engineers are investigating the cause of the fire, and process has been initiated to replace the affected transformer as soon as possible,” the statement indicated.
The company apologised to residents and businesses affected by the disruption and expressed appreciation for their patience as engineers worked to restore electricity supply.
The incident raises concerns about the vulnerability of electricity infrastructure to equipment failures, particularly at substations serving densely populated communities.
However, GRIDCo has yet to disclose the extent of damage caused by the fire or whether additional equipment at the facility was affected.
For more news, join The Chronicle Newspaper channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBSs55E50UqNPvSOm2z
