The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) has explained that the erratic power supply to consumers is as a result of the difficulty in getting gas from Nigeria.

According the power transmitter, the company is usually forced to reduce power supply to consumers if Nigeria’s gas supply to the country dwindles.

Chief Executive of GRIDCO, William Amuna speaking on the power crisis particularly the situation over the weekend when many areas were left in darkness for days, said the situation was due to persistent challenges with gas supply.

Angry consumers:

Residents of some suburbs of Accra went on the rampage blocking roads and destroying properties owned by the Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) over the persistent power cuts in their neighbourhood over the weekend.

Residents of Lapaz-Tabora on Sunday afternoon blocked roads and destroyed properties at the Kwashieman power station of the ECG. The residents reportedly destroyed a polytank and also nearly assaulted the security man at the station.

Erratic gas supply:

Mr Amuna explaining what contributed to the power cuts in an interview on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM Monday said “entering this weekend, I thought it was all well and good. The gas supply was very good, we had Mines Reserve Plant (MRP) gas supply about 74 megawatts and then by yesterday, the gas supply had gone down we had to shut down MRP that means 74 megawatts.”

“We had already indicated to ECG how much load they should be shedding but if MRP has to go off again, that means that ECG would have to cater for an additional 74 megawatts that they had not planned for. In that situation, areas that were not billed to go off may have to go off.”

He observed that if ECG does not take off more load to match the generation, “we could lose the whole power system and that is what we seek to avoid completely.”

GRIDCO, Mr Amuna added, will be able to roll out an effective load shedding exercise if the company is able to ascertain the amount of gas Nigeria supplies the country.