By Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA
Accra, June 19, GNA – Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Energy, stated on Wednesday that the recent power outages in parts of the country were not caused by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
“Mr. Speaker, the question was asked over two months ago. No, ECG is not undertaking load-shedding as at the time the question was asked. Consumers were experiencing outages due to several factors. That included localised outages due to overload online and transformers,” he said.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh stated on the floor of Parliament while answering questions and outlining some of the reasons for the country’s recent erratic power supply.
“Mr. Speaker, at the time the questioner put the question, CenPower had an emergency which meant a complete shutdown, losing immediately 40 megawatts. That also contributed and the plant maintenance on Amandi power was also ongoing at the same time.
“The emergency outages sometimes requested by GRIDCo have also contributed, so there were myriads of factors that had unfortunately happened, that is causing the power outages in different times. The reason ECG said they were not load-shedding is because most of the incidents were not planned and so they couldn’t have come out with a pre-programme to say they were loading,” he told Parliament.
For months, most parts of the country experienced intermittent power outages, with businesses and households bearing the brunt of the burden.
The sector Minister said: “…Mr. Speaker, there are certain areas in this country where all of a sudden, the number of residents and businesses have accumulated, parts of East Legon which was purely a residential area have now become a business district, increasing power consumption.
“Thereby hampering the existing lines there, so the transformers and lines had to be updated. Outages to the average capacity of overloaded lines and transformers.”
GNA