Energy expert, Dr. Yussif Sulemana has described the ongoing energy sector challenge as a mini crisis.
Speaking with the Vaultz News he averred that although it is not a full-blown crisis, there is a potential of it becoming one.
“I think I will just describe the situation in the power sector as a mini-crisis. It is not a full-blown crisis but there is a potential for it to turn into a full-blown crisis. If actions are not taking and appropriate steps are not taken to rectify the situation.”
Dr Sulemana
He also noted consumers asking for a proper timetable was in the right direction. This, he said, is due to the fact that they bear brunt of the outages and need the timetable to plan properly.
“The 2015 to 2016 ‘dumsor’ era, we were given an orderly time table where people could follow and plan their lives. But this time there is this tug-of-war between GRIDCo who are the transmitters and then the consumers. I think the consumers call for timetable to be made is a call in the right direction. Though, I can appreciate what GRIDCo is going through. I think it’s a pocket of issues and they are not able to tell which areas could be impacted, so that could be their challenge.”
Dr. Sulemana
Business planning reliant on power supply
Moreover, Dr. Sulemana posited that, business continuity planning is heavily reliant on the ability for businesses to be guaranteed dependable supply of power. And so, if businesses are not guaranteed dependable supply of power it will impact their profitability along the line.
“It is a mini-crisis but the good thing is we are told something is being done about it both by GRIDCo and the Energy Ministry to get the situation solved.”
Dr. Sulemana
However, he was of the view that since the nation is going to expect three months of interrupted power supply, the stakeholders should give GRIDCo the space to find solutions to the issue.
“The good thing is the problem has been identified that the transmission lines are obsolete. Because, over the years we have overly injected so much capital at the generation side to the detriment of the distribution side and then the transmission and that’s what is affecting the situation now.”
Dr.Sulemana
He also indicated that, the energy sector needs capital injection both within the distribution and transmission chain.
“As long as the lines are not revitalized and made robust to be able to accommodate the amount of power coming from the distributors generation side, I think these things are bound to happen. And I think the earlier retooling takes place, the better.”
Dr. Sulemana
GRIDCo has questions to answer
Touching on what could truly be the possible cause of the current power sector situation, he intimated that if the issue is technical and not financial as it has been said, then GRIDCo has a lot of questions to answer.
“Why do they have to wait for the lines to get obsolete before taking this action? Why was there no proper maintenance? Logically you would land on finance. So, if finance is there now, that’s okay, but it is not a good thing to say it’s not finance. Definitely it’s finance, but perhaps we are guaranteed of finance now; that is what we are getting from the energy ministry. So, we have to take the Energy Minister on by his word.”
Dr. Sulemana
Dr. Sulemana then called on GRIDCo to be very forthright with the public on the current challenges. He also asked for them to involve stakeholders especially bulk suppliers and CSOs in their planning process.
“They have to be able to sing one song. They have to be able to give out a very uniform message to the public. You can’t say one thing is obsolete and the other is due to gas supply.
“I tend to see a communication gap between GRIDCo and other players. Because if GRIDCo had involved the stakeholders, I think the issue of requiring time table wouldn’t be a problem.”
Dr. Sulemana
