Govt pressuring GRIDCo to shelve general load shedding timetable – Minority

The minority in parliament is alleging that government is behind the failure of GRIDCo to publish a general load shedding timetable in the wake of the erratic electricity supply.

Consumers of electricity across the country have been grappling with prolonged hours of power outages.

The development has been attributed to transmission and distribution challenges, according to the Energy Minister.

ECG has published a load management timetable to enable GRIDCo to connect the Pokuase Bulk Supply Station to their lines next month.

But addressing the media on Wednesday, minority spokesperson on Energy John Jinapor stated GRIDCo had plans of publishing a general load shedding timetable but for government interference.

Mr. Jinapor also accused President Akufo-Addo of destroying the legacy of his predecessor John Mahama in the sector which has resulted in the return of Dumsor.

The former deputy power minister gave 10 pointers the minority wants implemented to address the current power crisis.

The minority in Parliament taking cognisance of the current erratic and unreliable power supply coupled with the lack of sincerity on the part of Government officials and handlers of the power sector, the Minority in furtherance to our commitment towards ensuring reliable and uninterrupted supply of power proposes the following 10 point recommendations for implementation;

1. The Energy sector players must be proactive and inform (Publish a schedule) electricity consumers who will be affected by these outages in advance so that affected customers can take remedial steps to mitigate the effect of such outages.

2. Government must cut down on wasteful expenditure and Inject the much needed capital into the power sector especially GRIDCo to make up for the impaired cash flow of these utilities.

3. Government must desist from political interference in the management of the Energy sector. Consequently, Government must refrain from engaging in political appointments especially within middle management levels when vacancies are declared.

4. Government and its communicators must desist from engaging in the propaganda on excess capacity and come out with a formula for absorbing capacity charges as part of operating cost.

5. Power sector managers must ensure that they pursue Long term planning to ensure fuel security for generating assets at the least cost possible.

6. Government must allow Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to take the responsibility for their fuel supply requirements.

7. Immediate steps must be taken to aggressively address ECG’s spiralling technical and commercial losses currently estimated by its worker unions at 34%.

8. The Ministry of Energy must conduct a comprehensive reconciliation of the total indebtedness of all players including government and its SOEs including (GNPC, GNGC, VRA, GRIDCo, CENIT, ECG, NEDCo) in a transparent manner.

9.The Ministry of finance must take steps to utilize the $1 billion sovereign bond borrowed in 2020 to address the financial challenges of the Energy sector.

10. Government must ensure that Energy sector SOEs Publish details of their financial statements including details and ageing of their indebtedness as well as debts owed to them on time.

Finally, Government must come clean on the current power crisis as a matter of urgency and desist from engaging in blame games. Shifting blame and providing conflicting information only goes to exacerbate the crisis which is threatening lives and businesses across the country.

Thank you.

John Abdulai Jinapor (MP)

Ranking Member, Mines and Energy Committee.