The Minority in Parliament insists the incessant power outages the country is grappling with is as a result of the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) indebtedness to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
According to the Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Mr. John Jinapor, the power distribution company is grappling with a huge debt of $1.5 billion which is yet to be settled as bills for purchased electricity in full.
Mr. Jinapor criticised ECG for what he terms as wasteful spending on items like cables, malfunctioning meters, and what he considers unnecessary contracts.
“ECG owes $1.5 billion, when they take the money from Ghanaians, they fail to pay the IPPs and use the funds to do whatever they want with it and they fail to pay the full price of the power they purchase and PURC has brought a report that when ECG comes in possession of a substantial amount of money they refuse to pay the debt they owe, they spend the money recklessly, and this is an official report from the PURC,” he said in an interview with Joy News.
“Some of the things they buy, they don’t even need it, and now they want to be buying fuel, which is not even their core duty, all these are a reason the finances aren’t adding up,” he said.
ECG Debunks ‘Dumsor’ claim
Despite incessant power outages, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says there is no need for a load-shedding timetable.
‘Dumsor’ is a Ghanaian term used to describe persistent, and unpredictable electricity power outages.
A section of Ghanaians who are affected by the frequent, unannounced power cuts have demanded the ECG publishes a load -shedding timetable to aid them plan their daily lives.
But ECG says although the country has been witnessing power interruptions in some areas, it cannot be termed ‘Dumsor’, hence there is no need for a load-shedding timetable.
The External Communications Manager of ECG, Laila Abubakar, in an interview debunked claim that the current power outages across the country call for the implementation of a load-shedding timetable.
“The thing is, we just want people to be aware that when your power goes off, it is not always a matter of load shedding…There are several issues and there are some of them that fall at the doorsteps of ECG. We are doing as much as possible to solve the ones that we can,” Abubakar said in a radio interview on Accra-based Citi FM on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
“There aren’t any issues with shedding load. The load shed, I think is what people understand by ‘Dumsor’. But usually, when someone asks me if, there is Dumsor, I ask them what do you understand and what do you think ‘Dumsor’ means. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be a timetable”, she stated.
Source: Myxyzonline.com
