Finance Ministry is the biggest problem for the energy sector – Energy Expert

Energy Expert Mr Kojo Poku has blamed the problems in the energy sector in Ghana on the Ministry of Finance.

He has therefore asked the general public not to question the Energy Ministry for the issues in the power sector.

His comments come after the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has served notice that it intends to embark on maintenance work.

There were concerns that this will result in power cuts to some areas of the country but GRIDCo has said it has no intentions of embarking on a nationwide load-shedding programme.

According to the company, what is being experienced in some parts of Accra is part of a couple of projects to enhance power supply reliability in the Greater Accra Region.

It explained in a statement on Wednesday, March 31 that the ongoing projects appear to have heightened perceptions of impending nationwide power cuts.

“GRIDCo wishes to assure the general public that it has no intention of embarking on a nationwide load-shedding programme,” it stressed in the statement.

Speaking in relation to this development on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, April 3, Mr. Kojo Poku said “The Ministry of Finance is the biggest problem in this energy sector but everybody keeps going to the Ministry of Energy. The Mines and Energy Committee I am surprised that they are asking the energy ministry.

“Three years ago the Ministry of Energy had a team that did the renegotiations, when they sent the report to the Ministry of Finance to sign off, the Ministry of Finance refused to sign off on it.

“They constituted another Committee led by Deputy Minister Charles Adu Boahen and as I speak today we have not gotten to the conclusion of the exercise. So it is a problem where the technical people will do one thing and the Ministry of Finance will do another thing.”

For his part, the Executive Director of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) Mr. Ben Boakye noted that Ghana is currently facing critical issues of efficiency in its power transmission system.

He explained that the issues bother on technical, financial and managerial which must all be addressed concurrently, “otherwise we are not going to be able to fix the problems.”

He said these also on the Key Points while contributing to the discussion on planned maintenance work to be done by the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo).

Mr. Boakye explained to host Abena Tabi that in the power sector, “we have transmission and distribution. If you generate power and you can’t transmit, the power sector is not complete.

“If you transmit and you cannot distribute for the consumer to use, you have no power system.

“Over the years, when we had crisis we have focused so much on generation and brought even more than we can consume as a country and we ignore the essential improvements that we need to do in the transmission and the distribution of electricity. That is why we are where we are because we have not invested.”

He added “The financial component is also critical. How you financed development across the entire network to ensure that they can be stable, they can be efficient, and deliver power when needed. We are facing the critical issue of efficiency in our transmission system as well.

“If you don’t transmit efficiently what happens is that you lose power whiles you are transmitting.

“The bottom line clearly is that the ingredients to the challenges in the power sector haven’t changed. it remains technical, it remains financial and managerial and we have to address all these concurrently, otherwise, we are not going to be able to fix the problems."