Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh is urging Ghanaians to rally behind the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led government to enjoy a consistent power supply in the country.
According to Mr Annoh-Dompreh, it’s only the NPP government that can end the era of dumsor, adding that “our stable power supply is as a result of a conscious effort by an efficient and competent leadership. You are assured of a stable power supply while the NPP remains in office.”
The Majority Chief Whip made this known on his Twitter page after a visit to the Sunon Asogli Thermal Power Station.
He said Ghanaians can enjoy stable power because the government paid 30% of the debt inherited in 2018 and 66% in 2019.
He explained further that, the ruling NPP since assuming power in 2017, has taken many initiatives to address the challenges facing the energy sector including the payment of 87% of the legacy debt.
“In 2020 the NPP govt settled a legacy debt amount of $203 million between SAP, ECG & VRA. The NPP govt had struck a better working relationship with all the IPPs in this country.”
Mr. Annoh-Dompreh also explains that the NPP has implemented the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM), Natural Gas Clearing House (NGCH), restrategized, and renegotiated the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
Additionally, the Ministry of Energy in 2019 instituted the Cash Waterfall Mechanism to prevent the growth of sector-wide indebtedness.
The waterfall payment is a payment system that allows debtors to pay higher-tiered creditors their full interest and principal first before lower-tiered creditors receive their principal and interest payment.
Annoh-Dompreh explained that the NPP knows and understands what should be deemed as a priority and has therefore put in place the necessary measures to avoid “dumsor”.
In recent times, Ghanaians have been concerned about the return of dumsor. This follows intermittent power supply witnessed across the country.
But Energy Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempreh has disclosed that the recent power outages are a result of some unfavorable load imbalance in the systems used in the delivery of power.
“A couple of days ago, we had the Aboadze Switch Yard burnt and that has led to a lot of intermittent power curtailment in parts of Western Region, Central Region, and even the Greater Accra Region. Because what GRIDCo is doing is to put all the networks in a circuit such that energy can be wheeled wherever with automatic meters.
“But that also meant that they will increasingly have trip-off if the load imbalance is unfavorable to the system. So the system decides to shut itself down to prevent machine and equipment damage
“So it’s true that parts of the country are experiencing intermittent power surges because of a combination of factors, which are the works that we are doing and the light going off by itself,” he said .
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to bear with the Ministry as it strives to resolve the situation.
– BY Daniel Bampoe