Publish load shedding timetable to allow businesses, consumers to plan – IPPs to govt

The Chamber of Independent Power Producers has called on government to come out with a load shedding timetable for the intermittent power cuts occurring in parts of the country.

According to Chief Executive of the Chamber, Elikplim Apetorgbor said a schedule is required to enable businesses and the consuming public to plan ahead of the imminent power outages.

In an interaction with Citi Business News monitored by GhanaWeb, Apetorgbor explained, “We are in business because of the consumers. The entire value chain deserves the best of customer service. Distribution or transmission maintenance of services don’t just happen. They are carefully and deliberately planned and this plan must be communicated clearly to the consumers once it is not an automated service”.

“The reliability of electricity supply to consumers requires improved access to information by notifying consumers in advance. If it is the case of planned outages then, it is important we have a timetable communicating the activities that are ongoing on the grid,” he said.

Meanwhile, 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 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.

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