Ghanaians need timetable for end of ‘dumsor dumsor’

Indications are that the present power management programme (or if you like ‘dumsor dumsor’) is not the function of want of trying.

Perhaps, what we can say is that our actions so far are not yielding the desired results and that is why, into the third year, the load-shedding regime is being endured by all power consumers. 

It has been acknowledged that lack of sustained investment is not helping to give us the required power said to be growing at 12 per cent annually.

About two decades ago, the country’s power generation was basically hydro from the Akosombo and the Kpong hydro power plants. 

But the arrangement changed in the mid 1990s after a major load-shedding exercise, compelling the then government to rethink the generation mix to include thermal plants powered by gas and light crude oil.

Those investments were not comprehensive enough to deal with the growth in demand for power by domestic and commercial consumers.

When the government realised that something drastic had to be done to address the shortfall, independent power producers (IPPs) were invited to complement the efforts of the public power producers.

Even as those discussions were going on to factor in the work of the IPPs, the players were also looking at the pricing formula for power because the existing tariff regime was not going to attract the kind of investments needed to upgrade power generation.

It was at that point that the idea was mooted for the establishment of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to take the government off the fixing of utility tariffs.

We are not in a position to assess the PURC, but from media reports, we can say that it has done its best but not to the satisfaction of consumers.

Be that as it may, Ghana, as an emerging economy, needs more power to increase productivity and create wealth and jobs for the teeming youth.

The new Power Minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor, appears very enthusiastic about resolving the issues and challenges in the power sector.

He has hit the ground running by establishing a task force to collect millions of Ghana cedis owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by consumers, including government establishments.

Nonetheless, the Daily Graphic would want to offer a piece of advice to the minister — that is, for him to succeed and put the ECG on a sound footing, he must convince his colleague ministers to pay up the debts owed the ECG by all state institutions.

If he is able to achieve that, he would have succeeded in cleaning the books of the ECG and positioning the company well to secure credit from the market to expand its operations.

The Daily Graphic reiterates the thinking among the experts that the solution to our present predicament lies in government sustaining investment in the sector.

Presently, the sector has no redundancy to fall on in case of technical and demand challenges, as, when that happens, the only option open to the power producers is to shed the load.

The situation is desperate, as individuals and businesses do not know when there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

The Daily Graphic calls on the Power Minister to tell Ghanaians when to expect an end to ‘dumsor dumsor’.

 Mr Minister, Ghanaians need that assurance in order to plan their personal and business activities, as any further delay in fixing the power challenges will retard plans to rebuild the economy.