The Minister for Energy, John Peter Amewu has intimated that, power outages also known as ‘Dumsor’, the country experienced some few years ago was an issue of excess demand over supply, which former President John Mahama was unable to identify and effectively deal with.
Speaking at the Nation Building Updates in Accra, he also blamed the outages on incompetent management and said that, the ‘Dumsor’ situation was not caused by logistical challenges or the lack of equipment needed to generate and supply power to the people.
“Workers of ECG disclosed that, they had prepared a load shedding timetable to enable Ghanaians enjoy power at an intermittent interval.
What that means is that, the framers responsible for the energy sector at that time realised that there was excess demand over supply.”
According to Mr Amewu, there were a lot of generators available but there was no feed to drive power to the consumer.
Mr. Amewu also revealed that, government has given US$130 million to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to help the power generating firm replace its obsolete equipment, to reduce power losses, and ensure sustainable power generation.
He explained that, it would ensure efficient transportation of electricity, add value to power generation and ensure cheaper electricity supply to consumers.
The Minister noted also that, the stable power supply Ghanaians are currently enjoying was due to Inter-Ministerial and agency collaboration and placing competent people in the right position to deliver quality services as well as the effective leadership provided by President Akufo-Addo.
“The competencies exhibited by the Chief Executive Officers of energy institutions such as the Volta River Authority, Ghana National Gas Company, Bui Power Authority, Ghana Grid Company, and Energy Commission have ensured stable electricity supply and low tariffs”
He explained that the Akufo-Addo-led government had tremendously improved the grid system thus, aiding the flow of electricity to power consumers adding that, it had completed gas reverse flow, paid the chunk of the debts owed the Independent Power Producers, and transferred the Karpower Barge from Tema to Sekondi-Takoradi to use natural gas thereby ensuring efficient utilisation and less cost in power generation.
He further posited that, the ruling government had procured and distributed 12 million energy-saving bulbs, which enabled power consumers to use more power and pay less electricity tariffs.
Mr Amewu indicated that the Mahama’s Administration increased electricity tariffs by 268 per cent between 2010 and 2016 amid the power crises leading to the collapse of many businesses.
“Today, under President Akufo-Addo’s government, the electricity tariffs we’re paying is far less than the tariffs that we were paying in 2016. This is happening because the various energy agencies are talking to each other to see how each of them will play their respective roles for effective power supply.
“This is so because the President puts competent people at the right position, we do not need to sign a new power purchase agreement or build a new power plant, but just using their knowledge, collaboration, and identity, and this exactly what this government has done…so give Nana Akufo-Addo four more years to do more for you.”
Mr Amewu said, going forward, the Akufo-Addo’s government would continue the rural electrification programme, engage in competitive procurement of power, and minimise capacity charges.
