A Review of the Characteristics and Challenges of Electricity Distribution in Ghana: Case Study of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company

This paper presents a review of the characteristics and challenges of electricity distribution in Ghana with an emphasis on the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) in the northern half of Ghana. NEDCo is used as a case study due to the peculiarity of its geographical area of operation and customer characteristics which better highlights the challenges of electricity distribution in Ghana. NEDCo’s electricity distribution operations cover approximately 64% of the total landmass of Ghana and contain the most deprived communities and consumers, who are extensively dispersed. In addition to the scattered settlements, NEDCo has a predominantly lifeline customer base that pay tariffs below the average cost of service. These peculiarities, together with regulatory complexities, have contributed to many challenges, such as high system losses, high cost of service and poor network reliability, in the electricity distribution sector in Ghana.