The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has announced power outages between 1900 and 2300 hours across its operational zones, indicating that rising demand had forced around 630 distribution transformers to operate at full capacity.
Although the electrical distribution company did not specify the duration of the outages, it stated that the decision was made to prevent fuses from blowing and broken conductors, particularly during peak demand hours.
“We wish to assure our customers that transformer upgrading and new projects are ongoing to relieve these transformers to ensure a more reliable power supply,” ECG said in its public notice.
The company asked for consumer support and advised them to be patient while it took steps to improve its electricity distribution system.
Calls have increased for ECG to announce a schedule for outages so that people could plan their lives accordingly, while also addressing sector concerns through a national consensus.
“It’s proper to let people know that you’ll be taken light so that they can plan their lives and be aware that today when you’re go home, you’re not going to have light,” Mr Ben Boakye, Executive Director, Africa Centre for Energy Centre said.
He stated in an interview with TV3, which was monitored by the Ghana News Agency, that without a timeline, ECG would be “subjecting people to an unexpected mental process, where you suddenly get home and there’s no light.”
Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES), told the GNA that the power sector’s fundamentals remained weak and that outages could be lengthy.
He warned that power plants would shut down due to a lack of maintenance, insufficient fuel supply, and nonpayment of invoices and cited failures in transmission and distribution networks due to a lack of or deferred upgrades, as the causes of the outages.
Last week, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) decried the nation’s high incidence of power outages and the politicization of the problem, urging a national consensus to address issues in the sector.
“Energy is like air, and so important for houses and industry, and we cannot mess with it,” Mr Kwame Jantuah, Chairman, Oil and Gas sector, AGI said in an interview with GNA.
“Where power is concerned, it shouldn’t be a political situation but a national discussion where political leaders sit and come to an agreement,” Mr Jantuah said.
He urged ECG to take drastic measures to “block wastages in the system, collect the cash waterfall, and spread it among the lot,” claiming that this would help reduce the frequent power outages.
In November 2023, total energy consumption reached 21,440 GWh, with the Energy Commission projecting a year-end figure of 23,617 GWh and an estimated consumption of 24,997 GWh in 2024, representing a 5.8 per cent increase.
GNA
KAS
12 March 2024
