The Power Ministry has directed a change in transmission lines following an unplanned nationwide blackout on Thursday morning which angered many electricity consumers.

The country was plunged into darkness around 5:20 am due to what the Electricity Company of Ghana described as systems collapse.

Some residents in an interview with Joy News said it was unexpected and affected the start of their day.

“I was not able to iron my clothes for work this morning, so I had to wear something else,” one resident told Joy News.

Another said “it was very inconvenient for me because I bake bread and when I woke up...this morning, I was expecting to have light to bake the bread but there was no light to bake so I had to use torchlight. Some of the bread got bent.”

Chief Executive officer of power managers, Ghana Grid Company, William Amuna, explained that the transmission lines had major interruptions which led to the blackout.

“We had a major challenge in our transmission lines between Akosombo and Tema…they tripped, and as a result we lost some generation and some load.”

“We lost between 40 and 50 percent of generation. As at now we have restored almost 90 percent, the whole of Accra and Tema are already on,” he said.

Mr Amuna said the real cause of the problem will be determined after data from the National Control Centre is downloaded and studied.

The Power Ministry in view of the problem has directed that all the transmission lines  be changed.

Deputy Minister John Jinapor told Joy News the change will guarantee a reduction in transmission losses and to avoid the recurrence of the blackout.

“We are taking all our 161 KVA lines to 330…they are quite robust and can withstand some of the surges and challenges the 161 lines are experiencing. In addition to that, it reduces the losses and makes the system more robust.”