The Ministry of Power has directed the Load Management Committee to reduce the load being shed for the industrial sector from 130 megawatts (MW) to 100MW with immediate effect.
A statement issued in Accra yesterday explained that the ministry’s directive followed improvement in power generation which has led to significant improvement in electricity supply. The Load Management Committee was set up by the then Ministry of Energy to manage the power crisis.
Although details of the improvement in the power sector were not given, the statement said the 30MW reduction in load shedding for the industrial sector, was informed by improvement in electricity supply.
“The ministry is keeping a close eye on developments in the generation, distribution and supply of electricity and will announce further changes as and when necessary,” it said.
The statement said the Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, who gave the directive, indicated that the reduction was expected to enhance productivity in the industrial sector.
While the industrial sector has had to face 130MW load shedding, domestic users of electricity had been enduring 24-hour blackouts followed by 12 hours electricity supply.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) started implementing a power rationing plan initiallty but was unable to stick to its timetable, due to the erratic power supply.
Power situation
Speaking to the Chief Executive of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Mr William Amuna, he said the generation of electricity had improved in the last few weeks.
He revealed that a reduction of 30MW in load shedding for the industrial sector was feasible because the country was now shedding between 200MW and 500MW, depending on the power generated daily.
The industrial sector had been hard hit by the power crisis, forcing some companies to close down, while others had laid off workers.
To stay in business, most companies had had to use generating sets to sustain their operations.
As a result, businesses have no choice but to pass on the high cost of the additional expense to consumers.
Challenges
Last year, a new ministry called the Ministry of Power was carved from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, to handle the power situation.
Dr. Donkor who was made the sector minister publicly stated that he would resign if he was unable to solve the power crisis by the end of the year.
President John Mahama, in his State of the Nation address to Parliament in February this year, outlined measures by the government to shore up the power sector
“Following power purchase agreements that we have entered into with several independent power producers, we expect to inject 3,665 megawatts of power into our national grid,” the President said.
Source: Graphic