'Dumsiesie' is not 'dumsor' – Energy Minister

Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, says the problematic situation of intermittent power cuts is a side effect of fixing the energy sector. He calls it 'Dumsiesie' which means, switch off and fix.

Addressing Ghanaians through his official Twitter handle, the Honourable Minister shared a short video explaining the necessity for the erratic power supply in the country.

According to Dr Opoku Prempeh, the population has outgrown the transmission lines used in the 1950s and 1960s. He said these power lines were 161,000V and was used to power a then Ghanaian population of about 6millon. Now the population has increased to about 30 billion, which has necessitated upgrades on the system.

“People are hanging on 330kV and 161,000 volts power lines to upgrade the power cables. We can’t have electricity running through these lines whilst work is being done on it. So we have to put out the lights somewhere so that someone can do that work.”

He continued that this is why power cuts are happening across the country. He said the current situation is not the same as the significant power cuts, ‘Dumsor’. That Ghanaians experienced between 2012 to 2016.

Delivering Reliable and Affordable Power#GoodPower #ReliablePower #AffordablePower #MinistryOfEnergy pic.twitter.com/lOhk4Xg6lE

— Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (@MatthewOPrempeh) May 16, 2021