The Minority in Parliament has called on the Electricity Company of Ghana to immediately publish a timetable for the ongoing power cuts popularly known as ‘Dumsor’ to enable people to plan their lives.
Addressing Journalists in Parliament, the Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor said the continuous and deliberate denial by government officials to the effect that there was no load shedding could no longer suffice.
“We are reliably informed that dumsor will continue today at 12:00 and it’s only fair that Ghanaians are made aware,” Mr Jinapor said.
The Minority spokesperson for Energy said the government is unable to purchase enough fuel to power some of the thermal plants due to financial constraints leading to generation challenges.
“The best this government led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his vice Dr Mahamudu Bawumia can do is to publish the schedule of the ongoing dumsor, so people can plan their lives,” he said.
Meanwhile, the electricity supply to Parliament and Job 600, the office complex for Members of Parliament, was on Thursday disconnected due to a GHc23 million debt.
The National Taskforce executed the disconnection following unsuccessful attempts to collect the outstanding arrears.
The disconnection is part of the ongoing “Operation Zero Balance” initiative by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) task force.
The primary goal of this initiative is to recover outstanding debts from various customers, and in this case, Parliament House and Job 600 were targeted due to their substantial debt.
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Meanwhile, Nana Amoasi IV, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES), has warned that the ongoing power cuts in parts of Ghana may persist unless immediate and deliberate actions are taken to address underlying challenges related to installed capacity and fuel supply.
He emphasized that these issues significantly impact the country’s power sector. Parts of the country, notably the capital city, Accra, have been grappling with inconsistent power supply, creating disruptions in daily life.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has yet to provide a clear explanation for the outages or furnish the public with a load timetable for better planning.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show with Caleb Kudah on Citi FM, Nana Amoasi delved into the recurring power cuts, commonly known as “dumsor.”
He highlighted that the challenges leading to the current outages extend beyond the immediate situation, dating back to pre-existing issues.
According to him, unless the fundamental problems afflicting the energy sector are addressed, the likelihood of prolonged power cuts remains high. He underscored the financial aspect of the problem, stating that stability in power supply hinges on addressing the financial constraints.
“Two key things that I want to touch on are the issue of installed capacity and fuel supply. The fuel supply reliability is contingent on financial capacity. Over the last fifteen years or so, we have had issues with installed capacity but before the close of 2016, the past government confidently and adequately addressed the capacity issues and what was left was for us to ensure that we had handled the fuel supply issues.
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“Once in a while, we will get some shortfalls from Akosombo and remember, the water in Akosombo is also fuel for the plant but for the thermal plant that relies on natural gas, we are unable to pay both the suppliers and sometimes the transporters, which results in a blockade of gas supply.”
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