Ghanaians to experience intermittent power outages until September - GRIDCo

A cross section of Ghanaians are expected to experience intermittent power outages until September this year, according to the Ghana Grid Company Limited.

This is because the power transmission company will complete its ongoing expansion works and system upgrade by the time.

Addressing journalists following an inspection of some GRIDCo sites, on Tuesday April 6, John Owusu-Afriyie, Director, Engineering Projects at GRIDCo explained the upgrade is expected to prevent the recent power outages occurring in parts of the country.

“All things being equal, all the maintenance work will be completed by September 2021. Whenever we are constructing a line like this, we normally make some crossings such as ECG lines and sometimes buildings. When we meet the ECG lines, because it is also an electrical system, we must ensure that we give an outage to be able to cross the line else there may be an induction,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh on his part dismissed assertions that the country was on a return to an erratic power supply era known as ‘dumsor’.

“We should all be truthful in our communication. In 2016, the [ NDC government] gave us periods when we were off and on. 2016, the government of the day told us it was a generation problem. This is not a generation problem. This is not about fuel, so how can it be dumsor? Dumsor is planned and a timetable is rolled out,” Opoku Prempeh stressed.

He further admonished citizens to bear with stakeholders in the energy and power sector as they find workable solutions to solve the technical challenges.

“Bear with the contractors, so they finish in time, so we can enjoy the improvement we so desire. We have systems where lights are flickering, voltages are low and the line is down and that is exactly why we have what we have,” Opoku Prempeh urged.

Some parts of Accra and Winneba have already started to experience power outages as a result of technical challenges on transmission lines and network substations.