The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Consumer Protection Agency, Kofi Kapito, has defended the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for its inability to release a load-shedding timetable amidst the current power outages in the country.

According to Mr Kapito, financial constraints have made it challenging for ECG to provide a load-shedding timetable for the ongoing energy crisis.

He explained that, unlike previous instances where power outages were primarily caused by generation capacity limitations, the current situation is complicated by financial issues.

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In an interview with Citi FM on Tuesday, April 23, Kapito explained that the root cause of the problem lies in the availability of funds rather than generation capacity.

In his view, addressing the financial challenge would eliminate the need for a load-shedding timetable.

Mr Kapito urged Ghanaians and others demanding a load-shedding timetable to be patient with ECG while efforts are made to resolve the financial challenges.

The CEO of the Consumer Protection Agency reiterated that once the financial issues are resolved, the need for a load-shedding timetable would no longer exist.

He thus called for cooperation and patience from all stakeholders as efforts are made to stabilise the energy situation in the country.

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“As we all know it is not like before when we used to build some transformers which we knew is going to take us some months and so we have to do some proper plan and then bring out a timetable."

“Unfortunately, because it is financial, it is difficult for ECG to say that they will bring a timetable simply because people are calling for it. If they bring the timetable and money becomes available, thus, they are able to pay the IPPs or they have to buy the necessary fuel for power plants, then what happens to the timetable? That I think is the challenge the ECG is facing.”

“ECG is in the business to sell you power. When ECG gets the electricity, they have no need apart from selling it to the consumer or anybody who needs it. So, when people sometimes behave as if ECG has the power and they are doing something or intentionally not distributing it, I find it a little difficult,” he said.

The state power distributor, ECG, has faced public criticism recently due to disruptions in power supply, commonly known as ‘dumsor’, and their failure to publish a load-shedding timetable.

• Read also: Only the Energy Minister can authorise publication of load-shedding timetable – Osafo-Maafo

However, Senior Presidential Advisor Yaw Osafo-Maafo has clarified that only the Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, has the authority to sanction the publication of a load-shedding timetable.

Mr Osafo-Maafo explained that this decision is contingent upon the volume of power being generated and what ECG can distribute.

Mr. Osafo-Maafo made this disclosure on the sidelines of a forum on open government partnerships and construction sector transparency in Accra on Tuesday, April 23.