Public Utility Workers Union urges PURC to adopt proactive strategies for addressing power outages
The Public Utility Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana has called upon the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to adopt proactive strategies to address the recent power outages instead of merely demanding a timetable from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
This appeal comes in response to PURC’s seven-day ultimatum to ECG to furnish a detailed incident report on power outages from January 1, 2024, onwards.
In a press release dated March 28, signed by the General Secretary of the union, Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi, the union highlighted that the current power crisis is due to limited power being transmitted to ECG. The union also refuted claims that 630 overloaded transformers were responsible for the erratic power outages, pointing out that there are 33,000 transformers in the country, making it improbable for such a small number to cause widespread issues.
The union urged PURC to take a more proactive role in investigating the root causes of the power crisis rather than merely demanding a timetable from ECG. They questioned whether PURC, as a regulator, should not be requesting data from the system operator on outages of Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) to prevent speculation by ECG customers that they are being deliberately denied power supply.
The union also highlighted the economic implications of unscheduled energy dumps by the system operator (GRIDCo), which result in more expensive costs than planned outages for maintenance by ECG.
The union further emphasized that ECG has made significant strides in improving its operations, including implementing a cashless system, paperless operations, and end-to-end digital meter reading. They expressed confidence that PURC and ECG can collaborate effectively to resolve the power crisis.
The statement also recalled ECG’s intervention during the government of Ghana’s struggles to finance Independent Power Producers (IPPs), where ECG provided monthly regular payments that were acceptable to the IPPs. Since then, there have been no threats of ‘dumsor’ (power outages) from the IPPs Chamber.
Under the current management’s leadership, ECG has reportedly achieved significant improvements, including more than doubling its revenue collections and transforming its operations to become a smart utility company. ECG now operates a cashless system for the first time in its history, alongside paperless operations, end-to-end digital meter reading, and spot billing.
