ECG is not shedding load – Energy Minister

The Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has clarified that the recent power outages affecting parts of the country are not as a result of load shedding by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Over the past few months, intermittent power outages have disrupted businesses and households nationwide. Addressing questions in Parliament, Dr Opoku Prempeh explained the causes behind the erratic power supply.

“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 a number of factors, including localized outages caused by overloaded lines and transformers,” he stated.

Dr Opoku Prempeh highlighted the rapid development in certain areas as a contributing factor. “There are certain areas in this country where all of a sudden, the number of residents and businesses have increased. Parts of East Legon, which was purely a residential area, have now become a business district, increasing power consumption,” he noted. This surge in demand has strained existing infrastructure, necessitating upgrades to transformers and power lines.

He also pointed to specific incidents affecting power supply. “At the time the question was asked, CenPower had an emergency shutdown, resulting in an immediate loss of 40 megawatts. Additionally, maintenance work on the Amandi Power plant was ongoing,” Dr Opoku Prempeh explained.

Further compounding the issue were emergency outages requested by GRIDCo. “These were myriads of factors that had unfortunately happened, causing power outages at different times,” he added.

Dr Opoku Prempeh emphasized that the ECG did not implement load shedding because most outages were unplanned, preventing a pre-announced schedule. “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 load shedding,” he concluded.