A staff of the Power Distribution Services Ghana Limited (PDS), which is managing the distribution business of the Electricity of Ghana(ECG), has reportedly been attacked at Kokrobite, a suburb of Accra. The staff whose name is not yet known was part of a team who were deployed on Saturday, to restore electricity, to Kokrobite, which is one of the areas affected by power when the incident happened. According to sources, the angry resident slashed the victim’s nose with a cutlass leading to blood gashing out of him. Sources say he was quickly rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, where he is currently responding to treatment. The Public Relations Manager for PDS, Mr William Boateng, who confirmed the incident said the case has been reported to the police for action to be taken.

Mami Dufie Ofori,PURC Boss The Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Mami Dufie Ofori, has said the commission will look into the reasons given by the Power Distribution Services Limited (PDS) for the recent power outages. The blackouts have been attributed to ongoing construction of the road interchange at Pokuase, which has necessitated the diversion of GRIDCo’s 330kV transmission line towers that runs from Tema to Aboadze in that vicinity.

But reacting to the issue, Mrs Ofori said: “We are working with systems that break down all the time. I am not going to say that I know in its entirety what happened and I can vouch for it. But we are working with systems that break down all the time.”

“We as a regulator, it is our responsibility to investigate and know whether it is true or not and take the appropriate actions and that is what we are taking,” she added.

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has served notice that households should expect power cuts over the next few days after it advised PDS to begin the redistribution of power.

Minister of Energy Peter Amewu, who visited some of the Bulk Supply Points in Accra last Thursday assured that power will be normalized by next week.

Minister for Energy, Hon. John-Peter Amewu has met with Members of Parliament to update them on the current power situation in the country. Speaking on the Floor of Parliament on Friday, 15th March, 2019, Hon. John-Peter Amewu explained that the outages in some parts of the country were purely technical challenges and not as a result of power generation problems as some Ghanaians are speculating. “The fundamental cause of the blackout is the ongoing construction of the road interchange at Pokuase which has necessitated the diversion of the 330kV transmission line towers that runs from Tema to Aboadze in that vicinity. This requires taking an outage of the entire line to undertake the diversion,” he said. He added that as a result of the ongoing works on the 330kV line, GRIDCo has rendered the line inactive, thereby cutting power supply to those living in Pokuase and its environs including parts of Western Region. “As a result of the outage on the 330kV line, no power was transmitted on the Aboadze to Accra that is, from west to east. Instead, power has had to be transmitted from Akosombo through Mallam, Winneba and Cape Coast to the Western part of the country through the 161kV transmission line. These 161kV lines become overloaded, thereby causing it to trip as a protective measure to avoid any major damage to equipment. It is important to note, however, that the transmission lines across the country are interconnected to the extent that disruption in one transmission line has a ripping effect on others,” he explained. The Minister said power would be restored to the affected areas in the next couple of days explaining that work on the 330kV pylons had progressed. “We are in constant touch with GRIDCo and the Contractors to expedite work and complete the relocation of the towers according to schedule to enable the restoration of the 330kV line. The relocation works have been scheduled for completion by Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Our engineers are engaging their Japanese counterparts to resolve the technical challenges at the new Accra Central substation. Efforts are being made to expedite the work to relocate the towers on the line as well as put in mitigation to minimize further disturbances in the short term till the work is completed by the weekend.’’ Hon. John-Peter Amewu reiterated that government is fully committed to ensuring that Ghana’s power system functions effectively. “Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, let me state that the events that led to challenges that the power system of Ghana experienced are by no means the return of dumsor. We are working assiduously to address the situation. This government is committed to ensuring that the power system of Ghana functions effectively to make Ghanaians happy” he said.

Minister for Energy, John-Peter Amewu has asked Ghanaians to dismiss assertions by the Minority in Parliament that government has returned the country to an era of load-shedding popularly called “Dumsor”. This follows recent calls by the Minority on government to be candid with Ghanaians and release a load shedding timetable following the recent power outages in some parts of the country. The Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, Adam Mutawakilu, commenting on the recent power outages, said the situation is a reflection of the financial troubles facing the energy sector due to government’s mismanagement of the sector. But Mr Amewu has rejected this position, arguing that the current outrages were as a result of technical challenges in the system. Speaking to journalists during a tour of Accra Central Bulk Supply Point , Pokuase, Kpone Thermal Power Plant and Asogli Power Plant in Tema, which had caused the recent outages, the Minister assured that government had put the necessary measures in place to resolve the challenges. “The minority you know is not ready to accept the fact of what is happening now in the power sector. Because they would have wished that this country is brought back to the days of prolonged power outages. I can assure Ghanaians that the recent challenges are as a result of technical challenges and not generation issues. And we are ready to confront this problem to address it so Ghanaians can enjoy uninterrupted power supply.” Mr. Amewu was hopeful that the current challenges would be rectified within the next five days in order for power distribution to be normalized. “Definitely because of the construction work that is going on [at Pokuase] there is a need for them [companies in the power distribution chain] to halt the transmission of power for this period. So these are some of the problems they are facing. You can see the progress of work and my expectation is that it is going to be completed within about five days. But we’ve put in measures to minimize the impact. This is one of the major causes of interruptions. The problem has been caused by technical issues,” Amewu assured.

The Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Jonathan Amoako-Baah, has refuted assertions that the country has returned to the era where electricity was rationed. He explained that the blackouts that occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday in Accra Central, and other areas were as a result of technical problem at their newly commissioned sub-station at Graphic Road, which supplies power, to Accra Central and its environs. Regarding the power outages in Pokuase and the surrounding towns, Mr. Amoako Baah, noted that power supply in that area had been curtailed, to enable them, to relocate their 33KV lines due to the ongoing construction works at the ACP Junction on the Accra -Pokuase main road. He stated that the situation had nothing to do with generation as it had been speculated by section of Ghanaians. Mr Amoako -Baah was briefing the media during a visit to Accra Central Bulk Supply Point, Pokuase, Asogli Power Plant and Tema Thermal Power Plant with the Energy Minister John-Peter Amewu, CEO of VRA Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa and other officials of the Ministry of Energy on Thursday, 14th March, 2019. “Let me assure Ghanaians that dumsor is not back, we have enough power to supply. After the construction works everything will return to reliability of supply that we have come to know over the last months,” he said. He further assured that their project will be completed in 5 days to bring relief to Ghanaians. On his part, Mr John-Peter Amewu who is the Energy Minister maintained that the blackouts were a technical problem and not generation problem. He assured that the situation is currently under control. “Definitely because of the construction work (Pokuase interchange) that is ongoing, there is the need for them to halt the transmission of power for this period and so these some of the problems but my expectation thinking is that it is going to be completed within five days. But we have put in measures to minimize the impact,” he told the media.