Dumsor: Sit-up, protect consumers – IES to PURC

The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has called on the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to protect the interest of Ghanaians and hold power providers accountable as different parts of the country face power outages.

There is public outcry over the incessant power outages in many parts of the country with residents asking for the government to announce a load-shedding timetable instead of blaming the situation on equipment maintenance.

GRIDCo has announced that some obsolete equipment needs to be replaced and/or maintained thus the release of a load-shedding timetable in the coming days.

In this light, Executive-Director of the IES Nana Amoasi VII has blamed the PURC for not holding power providers accountable as the situation persists.

According to him, the PURC has said on several occasions it would investigate issues, but have never come out with a report.

He told Starr News, “It’s becoming too much, we hear too much from PURC as to going to investigate on every issue, yet we have never had any report.”

“Since last year, there have been many incidents of power outages that have been raising concerns of Ghanaians, and you hear the PURC come to say ‘we’ll investigate and find out what really caused this’ and at certain times they have even threatened penalties against these institutions. Yet we’ve not had any report, not a single report I or the IES have sighted.”

He went on “so, we’ll ask the PURC to sit up because it is their duty to protect the consumer. The consumer that most often pays for the commodity before it is dispensed to them. So, Ghanaians have every right to question the operation of PURC and how they intend to safeguard the interest of consumers.”