Ghanaians would have to brace up themselves for more power outages in May 2021.
According to the Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, there will be an erratic power supply in May due to the ongoing upgrade of the Kasoa and Pokuase substations.
Speaking at a forum in Accra on Thursday, April 8, 2021, the Minister said his outfit is currently engaging the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), and the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) to strategize ahead of the expected outages.
“Just two days ago, I received a letter from MiDA [Millennium Development Authority] who are helping upgrade the Pokuase and Kasoa substations. They informed me that the progress of the substation is such that in the month of May, there will be systematic power outages, so we have invited both ECG and GRIDCo and in the light of that, let us sit and plan and communicate with the people who will be affected way before it happens.”
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh also indicated the government is finalizing the revision of the National Energy Policy.
“A revised Energy Policy is going through its final processes of consultation. At the appropriate time of approval, it will be made available to everyone,” Dr. Prempeh said.
Ghanaians have in the past few months been experiencing intermittent power outages, sparking fears that the country may be returning to the days of unstable power supply popularly known as ‘dumsor.’
GRIDCo, which is Ghana’s power transmitter has in various forums however insisted that the challenges are technical and that the country will not experience ‘dumsor’.
GRIDCo said some of its transmission lines are faulty and for scheduled maintenance works to be done, some areas will need to have their power disconnected.
The power transmission company also in a statement issued on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, called for calm saying, it has no intention of publishing a power rationing timetable.
Government’s ‘populist decisions’ cause of power challenges – Kwabena Donkor
Meanwhile, former Minister for Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor says ‘populist’ decisions taken by the Akufo-Addo government years ago is the cause of the country’s current power challenges.
He said the government’s decisions such as the reduction in electricity tariffs in 2018 starved managers of the power sector of funds, forcing them to postpone much-needed maintenance works.
“They are not routine maintenance… GRIDCo had to suspend projects. When you suspend projects including critical maintenance, the situation becomes compounded and creates a bigger mess than you would have if you have gone by planned capital expansion and planned critical maintenance… GRIDCo had to suspend a number of projects because of poor cash flow,” the Pru East legislator said.
