The Ranking Member on Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, John Jinapor says government must consider allowing the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to procure their own fuel supply as part of measures to lessen the financial burden placed on government by the private power producers.

Addressing a press conference in parliament in Accra on Wednesday, Mr. Jinapor suggested that the measure is one of the options available in dealing with the challenges government currently faces in having access to a cheaper power supply from power producers.

That arrangement, he said, takes off some of the burden placed on government which is said to be struggling with other debt relating to power produced by the IPPs.

“What is even more disturbing is that despite confirmation from Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) a couple of weeks ago that the country will continue to experience these power outages into the foreseeable future for which reason they promised to publish a load management schedule, the anticipated schedule has since been put on hold due to political pressure from the executive,” he said.

The NDC minority caucus proposed that the energy sector players must be proactive and inform electricity consumers who will be affected by these outages in advance so that the affected customers can take remedial steps to mitigate the effect of such outages.

They further suggested that government must cut down on wasteful expenditure and inject the much-needed capital into the power sector especially GRIDCo to make up for their reduced cash flow.

Government, they noted, must desist from political interference in the management of the Energy sector. Consequently, Government must refrain from engaging in political appointments especially within middle management levels when vacancies are declared.

“Power sector managers must ensure that they pursue long-term planning to ensure fuel security for generating assets at the least cost possible,” Mr. Jinapor advised.

They also suggested that immediate steps must be taken to aggressively address ECG’s growing technical and commercial losses currently estimated by its worker unions at about 34 percent.

Energy Ministry reacts

The Energy Ministry on its part has dispelled the claims of the minority in parliament.

The Ministry in a statement said: “There has been no nationwide load shedding in the country, neither has there been an attempt to embark on one because there is no need to. Some of the projects ongoing in Accra and Kasoa, for example, will require outages for some days. The Pokuase timetable is out, starting from May 10 to May 17th, 2021.

That of Kasoa is yet to be published and shall be released at the appropriate time when the necessary arrangements and consultations with the relevant stakeholders have taken place.”

“The only reason these outages are being carried is to allow for the contractors to tie in their works into the existing transmission lines. It is therefore false to claim, as the Minority in Parliament has, that political pressure has been brought to bear on the publishing of a load shedding timetable,” the statement added.

Minority Chief Whip(L), Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka with Member on Mines and Energy Committee in parliament, John Jinapor