The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has reported the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to the Energy Minister, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh for failing to issue a load-shedding timetable for customers during the ongoing power outages.
For several months, Ghanaians have been experiencing unstable power supply in various parts of the country.
Consequently, the Minority in Parliament, civil society organisations (CSOs), and energy sector players have called for an ECG load-shedding timetable to help citizens plan their daily activities.
There has been an ongoing dispute between ECG and GRIDCo regarding the power outages.
In the petition submitted to the Minister on Thursday, March 28, GRIDCo said that the National System Control Centre (NSCC) has requested ECG to provide a timetable due to the unavailability of the maximum grid capacity and warns that ECG’s reluctance to comply with this request poses a significant risk to the stability of the national grid.
GRIDCo highlighted the potential consequences of ECG’s actions, warning of possible disruptions in power supply.
“We note with grave concern the repeated instances where Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Operations personnel fail to follow load management instructions issued by the SCC. This non-compliance poses a significant threat to the stability of the power grid, potentially leading to:
- Avoidable power outages for customers
- System collapse
“The SCC routinely communicates load management directives to ECG Operations. However, these instructions are often either not effected or inadequately implemented. This results in a decline in system frequency, triggering.”
GRIDCo also clarified that accusations levelled against it for emergency disconnections do not accurately represent the present circumstances.
The company emphasised that ECG’s failure to adhere to load management instructions constitutes a violation of regulations, and as such, GRIDCo should not be held responsible for matters beyond its jurisdiction.
“When these emergency disconnections occur, ECG publishes customer notices attributing the loss of power supply to GRIDCo, which is not an accurate description of the current situation. Furthermore, ECG’s disregard for load management instructions is a clear violation of the regulations.”
GRIDCo is calling upon the Minister to intervene and ensure that ECG adheres to the issuance of a load-shedding timetable.
“We therefore bring this to your kind attention, Honourable Minister, and seek your urgent intervention to ensure cooperation from ECG with respect to load management operations,” the petition said.
However, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has assured the public that the national grid is stable enough to keep the lights on for residents.
The power distributor made this known in a news release issued on Easter Friday, March 29.
“The Electricity Company of Ghana wishes to inform our cherished customers and the general public that we have a stable national power supply (stable national grid).”
“Any customer who is currently experiencing a power outage is due to a localised fault.”
In a rebuttal, the Institute of Energy Security (IES) described the release from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as scandalous, stating that the nation had a stable power supply despite the ongoing power crisis.
The IES said the statement was misleading and contradicted earlier statements put out by the ECG.