‘Dumsor’ is not back - Deputy Minister designate assures

The Deputy Minister of Energy designate, Richard Gyan-Mensah, has said that the country is not experiencing any scheduled regular power outages or “dumsor”.

He explained that the intermittent power outages being experienced across the country were temporary, which had been occasioned largely by ongoing maintenance works on pipelines that supply gas to power producers.

“Dumsor is not back. We all experienced the period of dumsor, and we know what we went through in terms of even the time when the light goes off,” the nominee added.

He further explained that the West African Gas Pipeline (WAPCo) was undertaking some maintenance works.

The nominee further said that most of the country’s thermal plants were using gas from Nigeria, adding that “because the pipeline is being worked on, we cannot bring the product even from Takoradi”.

Mr Gyan-Mensah gave the assurance when he appeared before the Vetting Committee of Parliament in Accra yesterday.

Efforts

The nominee, however, said that even though the government had provided some fuel to run some thermal plants, some of the plants were designed exclusively to use liquefied petroleum gas, and “once there is a maintenance work, the operators may not get the needed gas to power the plants”.

Mr Gyan-Mensah, who is the Member of Parliament for the Gomoa West Constituency in the Central Region, said WAPCo had given assurance that by March 6, 2025, it would finish with its maintenance work.

He said once that was done, “we will get enough gas to power the thermal plants. My minister and myself will work to make sure that this narrative of dumsor will never come back again”.   

ECG 
On the situation of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the nominee said that currently, the company needed some capital injection to address many inefficiencies in the system and “I believe that bringing on board the private sector will play a key role in resolving some of these challenges and also make it financially buoyant to ensure that we have consistent and stable power supply”.
He said discussing privatisation of the sector did not mean that the entire ECG would be privatised. 
Mr Gyan-Mensah also supported the view that technology should be employed by the ECG to minimise human interferences in its operations. 
The deputy minister designate also supported investment in renewable energy. 
“I think that we should pursue renewable energy in nuclear, gas and solar, including the construction of mini-dams,” he said.