In December 2023, the workers of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) vowed to return Ghana to “Dumsor” if their financial situation remained the same. As we speak, nothing has changed about their situation.
In a letter signed by Wisdom Kojo Adenyo, the Senior Staff Association’s National Chairman and addressed to the Minister of Energy, accusing fingers were pointed at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for their unwillingness to pay GRIDCo.
In the said letter, they clarify that GRIDCo invoices ECG (its main client) more than GH₵100 million a month, of which only roughly 18% to 25% is paid—and that payment is erratic.
Some parts of Accra on Tuesday and Wednesday, (January 9 and 10, 2024), experienced prolonged Dumsor. From the outcry on social media, it became apparent that other parts of the country have been experiencing constant Dumsor for months.
What is most worrying is that those in charge of power supply in Ghana are behaving as if they are not aware of what is going on. They don’t respect us enough to even provide a Dumsor timetable to allow households and businesses to plan.
How did we get here?
The Akufo Addo/Bawumia government always claims we have “excess capacity.” This has been their song for a very long time. Now, we have Dumsor on our hands. The question that should plague our mind is: where is the excess capacity?
What the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government has concealed from the people of Ghana is that the John Mahama NDC government entered into Power Purchase agreements to address annual electricity demand increases, to address deficits from emergency plants, and to replace outdated plants like TAPCo.
Don’t forget that about 14% of Ghanaians lack access to electricity, hindering economic prosperity. The NPP government’s abandonment of the National Electrification Scheme has been a major hindrance to universal access to electricity.
In addition to boosting local power usage, the administration of President John Dramani Mahama initiated the upgrading of the 161kV to 330kV transmission line connecting Ghana and Burkina Faso. As a member of the West Africa Power Pool, this allowed Ghana to export electricity to its northern neighbours. The intended amount of power to be exported to the Sahelian nation was 400MW.
The Akufo Addo government has not had to pay for excess capacity since 2020 due to increased demand. The current peak demand is 3561MW, while the dependable capacity is 3407MW. This has led to constant load shedding (for some time now) due to the power generation deficit. So, from 2020 to now, all the noises by the NPP government about excess capacity were nothing but deception.
Now, what are the factors precipitating the current Dumsor? Three things:
1) DEBT
ECG owes the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) more than $30 million, Volta River Authority (VRA) more than $30 million, Ghana Gas more than $50 million, GRIDCo more than $20 million, and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) over $60 million. The ECG is submerged in gargantuan debt.
2) VRA selling the power Ghana needs to neighbouring countries to stay afloat
VRA now sells power to Togo and Benin to help them survive financially. That is the reality. Yet, you’ve been hearing “Yanoom” shout “excess capacity” – “excess capacity.” Where is the excess power? How can you have excess power and be experiencing Dumsor?
3) Tullow is cutting the Gas supply to Ghana Gas
Ghana Gas is not able to pay Tullow for the raw gas, and Tullow is beginning to cut gas supply to Ghana Gas. This definitely will result in shortfalls in power generation, and if that happens, ECG will have less power to supply to consumers, resulting in Dumsor.
These are the tripartite causes of the current Dumsor but the powers that be will not tell you.
In conclusion
Due to nonpayment of bills by customers, ECG loses more than $180 million in revenue annually. $150 million (which constitutes 80% of this sum), is the amount the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government (through Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) owes ECG.
So, to answer the question: is Dumsor back? My answer is: from the above analysis, yes, Dumsor is back. But that naturally leads to another question: who is the true cause of ECG’s problem? Your guess is as good as mine.