News feature: ECG - No load-shedding timetable, no clue

As the country continues to experience erratic power cuts, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is unable to provide a current load-shedding timetable, enquiries by GhanaWeb have found.

On contacting the three major companies in the power sector - the Volta River Authority (VRA), GRIDCo and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) - not one could produce an accurate schedule or further information on the load-shedding exercise and ECG and VRA passed the buck over who is responsible for the schedule.

“The VRA was not in charge of the load-shedding exercise,” said Mr Sam Kwesi Fletcher, head of corporate communications at VRA, told us when we contacted him by telephone. “…we are unable to provide you with any information, please contact ECG for any clarification.”

The VRA’s website, however, did state that the situation would be resolved, in the short-term, by the end of April 2013.

On the VRA’s advice we contacted Mr Eric Asante, ECG public relations officer for the Accra West area. But Mr Asante said the ECG relies on the VRA and GRIDCo before it is able to distribute power to various areas in the country. He was also unable to produce an official document stipulating how long the load-shedding exercise will continue. The last schedule ECG published was not followed as they were instructed by GRIDCo to shed power sooner than expected.

When we checked the ECG website (www.ecgonline.info) we found that it was offline and, at a critical time like this, we were not able to find out any further information from it.

On calling their customer service centre we were told that a load-shedding schedule is “being put together” but that they could not tell us when it would be available.

GRIDCo, which is responsible for distributing power to ECG and the Northern Electricity Department (NED) for sale to customers, was unavailable for comment despite efforts to reach them.

In February last year ECG blamed GRIDCo for a nationwide blackout which lasted for over two hours.

The country’s erratic power supply worsened prior to the general election in December last year, as authorities appeared to take little action to alleviate the situation. Although President Mahama gave assurances in February that load shedding will end mid-2013, from now until then there is still uncertainty, particularly in terms of the economy.

Companies, except those selling generators perhaps, are more than likely operating at some margin of loss.

The health sector is also facing grave danger; how many lives are being lost every day as a result of uncoordinated power cuts?

What about drugs and vaccines, and babies in incubators who require constant temperatures to survive?

What about the street lights which are not working and plunge drivers into darkness, and the accidents that could happen as a result?

How is food going to be stored safely? Not long ago, some traders were arrested for selling rotten meat to the unsuspecting public; could this not be happening because there is no electricity to power the refrigerators which store the nation’s imported foods?

The country is going through a serious energy crisis but it is a basic customer service requirement for ECG, VRA and GRIDCo to coordinate and keep their customers informed – after all, the electricity Ghanaians receive is not free.

For now, the inability to coordinate an accurate load-shedding timetable leaves the citizens of Ghana, quite literally, in the dark.