The CEO of Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Jonathan Amoako Baah, is entreating persons within affected areas to experience power outages to bear with it as it works to ensure power is restored.

“We want you to bear with us whenever your power goes off. Know that there is a problem and the problem is being attended to, that is why it has been taken off. It is not human intervention. Please bear with us, when you see such a thing, try and find out what the problem is.

“We are ever ready to disseminate any information that you would want to know about the power systems and the power supply…for every heart to be at ease. We do not intentionally take people off [the grid],” he told JoyNews in an interview.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Tuesday disclosed that it is set to release an eight-day schedule for areas that would experience intermittent power supply in May.

Agyemang Budu, Chief Executive Officer of ECG, revealed that systematic power interruptions in the country would commence from May 10 to 17, 2021, to enable the company to proceed with ongoing works on the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point.

The rotating schedule which has four groups according to him would see affected areas including Nsawam, Pokuase, Gbawe among others without power supply for a maximum time of 12 hours.

“We are coming out with a planned schedule whereby the areas that are going to be affected have been grouped into four. Group A, B, C and D. We have scheduled it in such a way that no customer will see the outage throughout for the eight days.

“You will see probably a 12-hour outage in the daytime, the next three days you will see the outage in the night time. We will rotate it so it doesn’t affect customers throughout. All these outages are due to connecting the GRIDCo line to the national grid so we can use our control systems to supply power to our customers,” he stated.

The ECG’s decision to release a schedule for the frequent power outages recorded nationwide stems from criticisms and concerns raised by members of the general public who say their livelihoods have been negatively impacted owing to power interruptions.

Since the beginning of the year, the country has witnessed a series of power outages in major parts of the country and in some situations nationwide.

Power Service Providers including the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) and ECG have blamed the recent outages on technical challenges.

Therefore, have embarked on an upgrade initiative to enhance existing transmission lines to address the challenges faced by the energy sector.

Touching on the commencement of the upgrade processes, Mr Agyemang Budu revealed that the ECG will resume work a week after the commission of the transmission lines on May 31, 2021.

“The actual commission will happen on May 31, and then one week later, ECG will start loading the feeders,” he stated.

Also, Energy Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh who led the government delegation to inspect the Pokuase project called on Ghanaians to bear with the situation, stressing that it has become necessary due to government’s effort to make power supply more reliable.

"So we plead with you to bear with us. This has become necessary because of government’s investment in the power sector. The idea is to make power supply even better after the works are done," he stressed.