Energy Commission to set up system to monitor power outages — Minister
The Energy Commission is setting up a system to monitor all power outages, the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, Dr John Jinapor, has said.
He said at the end of the month, every district would account for why they had those outages, the time it took them to respond to the outages and "if there's any action that we ought to take, let me be frank and sincere, we will take that action”.
Dr Jinapor said this last Tuesday when he visited the Nmai Dzorn Primary to observe the replacement and upgrading of transformers there.
Inspection
The visit was part of the supervisory inspection of the ongoing Transformer Replacement Upgrade Programme being implemented by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The intervention forms part of ongoing efforts to enhance the reliability, stability and capacity of electricity supply across the country.
Dr Jinapor said the government was determined and committed to ensuring that it brought positive change in the power sector.
In terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of ECG, he said there had been some measurable and remarkable improvement, even though there was still room for improvement.
"I have seen an increase in the number of teams, for instance, to respond to emergencies like outages, and I commend the managing director for doing that," he said.
Replacement
Dr Jinapor indicated that the government was embarking on a major overhaul of the distribution system, which involved changing obsolete, ageing and overloaded transformers and other equipment.
He said a comprehensive review had been done on the transformers and "we are embarking on this exercise to ensure that all the pockets of outages and overloads, and interruptions that we have been experiencing are dealt with. It takes a bit of time to do the investigation, to do the analysis and to start the replacement".
He said he was happy to note that ECG, under the current management, was primarily focusing on its core mandates, investing in critical infrastructure.
"It is not just within Accra. Next month, they intend to move to Kumasi and to the other regions. Indeed, when it comes to the normal distribution transformers, they intend to roll out about 2,000 transformers. That is massive, it’s unprecedented, and it’s never happened," he said and encouraged the staff of ECG to give their best for the country.
He said the government was determined to deal with all the challenges that it inherited as part of the reset agenda.
Dr Jinapor appealed to customers that if they experienced outages arising from the exercise, they should bear with them.
“It's momentary, it's temporary, and it's just to ensure that we have an improved, better system so that you can enjoy a reliable supply of power. It's a continuous exercise," he said.
Privatisation
In response to a question on the status of the privatisation of ECG, the minister said it was still an ongoing exercise.
"We will consult further. We want to carry everybody along, and so I want to assure everybody that we'll take everybody's comments, everybody's interest,” he said.
