Audio By Carbonatix
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has stated that there is no need for a formal load-shedding timetable despite recent power outages that have sparked public frustration across Ghana.
Acting Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr Shafic Suleman, said the current disruptions do not amount to “dumsor” and insisted that electricity supply will soon stabilise.
Speaking on JoyNews on Monday, April 27, he maintained that the situation does not warrant rationing measures. “It doesn’t require us to do any load shedding… we are resolving most of the problems, and I’m sure power will be fully restored as soon as possible,” he said.
His comments come amid growing public calls for an official timetable to help households and businesses plan around frequent, unannounced outages that have disrupted economic activity and revived memories of past nationwide power crises.
Dr Suleman attributed the interruptions largely to technical challenges and ongoing system upgrades rather than generation shortages. He cited a recent incident involving the transmission network.
“On Thursday we had an unfortunate accident… and that’s a huge problem because about 1,000MW has been curtailed,” he disclosed, referring to an incident at a GRIDCo substation at Akosombo.
According to him, engineers are working to restore affected capacity while broader infrastructure improvements are ongoing. He also pointed to long-term investment gaps in the power distribution system.
“The system has been under-invested for a very long time… we are upgrading it to make it much more convenient for Ghanaians to use,” he explained.
As part of these interventions, he noted that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is replacing and installing thousands of transformers nationwide to improve reliability, with over 3,000 units already procured for deployment in affected communities.
The current power challenges have triggered widespread concern among businesses and households, many of whom say the unpredictable outages are increasing operational costs and affecting productivity, particularly due to reliance on generators.
The situation has also revived broader national discussions about the stability of Ghana’s power sector, which has experienced recurring supply disruptions in recent years. Periodic instability—often associated with generation, transmission, and distribution constraints—has in the past led to the implementation of load-shedding schedules commonly referred to as “dumsor”.
Dr Suleman, however, insisted that the government is managing the current situation and urged calm, saying, “We are working for the Ghanaian consumer… these are temporary challenges, and we are putting in place measures to ensure stable power supply.”
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