The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has reassured the public that there is no need for a load-shedding timetable despite recent power interruptions.

In response to concerns about power supply challenges, ECG stated that the current issues do not warrant the implementation of a load-shedding timetable.

Laila Abubakar, the External Communications Manager at ECG, clarified that the recent power cuts may be due to other factors and emphasized that the notorious ‘dumsor’ phenomenon has not returned.

She assured the public that ECG’s management is diligently working to address the challenges facing the power sector.

“The thing is, we just want people to be aware that when your power goes off, it is not always a matter of load shedding. There are several issues and there are some of them that fall before the doorsteps of ECG. We are doing as much as possible to solve the ones that we can.”

“There aren’t any issues with shedding load. The load shed, I think is what people understand by ‘Dumsor’. But usually, when someone asks me if, there is Dumsor, I ask them what do you understand and what do you think ‘Dumsor’ means. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be a timetable,” she insisted.

Meanwhile, John Abdulai Jinapor, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, has asserted that the ongoing power outages in various parts of the country stem from financial constraints rather than faulty transformers.

Mr Jinapor refuted claims by the ECG that the outages were due to transformer repairs, alleging that the root cause is a shortfall in electricity generation capacity.

The Ashaiman District of the Electricity Company of Ghana has discovered a total of 130 illegal connections within its operational area over a three day period.

The discoveries, which were part of a revenue mobilisation project the district was embarking on was started on Monday, March 4, 2024.

Speaking on the progress of the activities to media professionals, the Manager for the District, Ing. Kissi Ohenebeng mentioned that “with the 130 illegal connections seen, summons were given to the respective customers who started reporting to the office from Tuesday, March 5, 2024, to rectify the issues identified.”

He added that “over the three days that the project had been ongoing, his outfit, with support from a number of staff from eight other districts as well as the regional office of the Tema Region of the company had been able to visit over 5000 customers of the power distributor”.

Ing. Ohenebeng, when asked about possible prosecution of those caught with illegal connections indicated that “indeed should customers default in payments, the company is always ready to explore the possibility of addressing the situation at the court”.

He further added that “illegal connection is basically stealing, which makes it a criminal offence and admonished customers to desist from such acts as the consequences could be unpleasant.”

The Ashaiman District of the ECG is under the Tema Region, which also has Tema North, Tema South, Afienya, Prampram, Ada, Nungua, Juapong, Krobo Districts. Staff were deployed from all over the region to Ashaiman District to support the special revenue mobilisation exercise.

The Acting General Manager of the ECG Tema Region, Ing. Daniel Asare-Mensah on his part, encouraged customers to “be ready to pay for power consumed and to pay on time to avoid debt build up.”

Ing. Asare-Mensah indicated that the Ashaiman exercise would end by close of day Friday, March 8, 2024, while a similar project with support from the region’s workforce will be replicated in the other districts.

He also indicated that the Afienya and Prampram Districts will be the next to run such special revenue mobilisation exercises.

Executive Director of the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye says the public needs more information about the power outages to plan their lives and adjust accordingly.

Mr. Boakye said that the recent power outages have been caused by a combination of factors, including the shutdown of some power plants and a shortage of fuel.

Speaking on Joynews, he stated that generators like Axer could provide power, but are unable to do so because there is a shortage of fuel.

“Some of the plants are down and you should know, working with the engineers, what the timelines look like for them to come back on stream. So tell us what the timelines look like and let people plan their lives,” he said on February 29, 2024.

Mr Boakye pointed to a management crisis within the power sector.

 He said that the Energy Commission needs to ensure that all the systems are working properly, as any failure in one part of the system can affect the entire system which would result in power outages.

According to him, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the company that manages the power grid, is not investing enough in updating and expanding the grid.

He stated that the growing population and development in the country is increasing the demand for power and in order to meet this growing demand, the government and GRIDCo need to make significant investments in expanding and strengthening the grid.

“If that investment is not happening, you will always have challenges and the tricks will keep happening and they don’t get the money to be able to sustain the investment in the grid.”

In addition, the executive director also stated that exports are being cut which is sustaining the state institutions.

 “So it is the export revenue that they use to pay salaries and survive and now that export revenue is not there because there is shortfall, they have to cut export and meet domestic demand so they don’t have money. The cash flow is impacted and that would affect GRIDCo and GRA even worse because they are not going to get the revenue they need to be as functional as we need them to be and that is a big problem,” he said.