A number of areas, especially within the capital city Accra, suffered a blackout in the early hours of Monday, January 29, 2018.

GRIDCo clarified that the blackout was caused by an interference in their transmission network after many affected Ghanaians complained to Citi News over the issue.

“Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) wishes to inform the general public of a disturbance on its transmission network resulting in the loss of electricity supply to consumers in some parts of the country,” GRIDCo stated in a statement signed by its head of Public Relations, Albert Kwesi Quainoo.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had earlier denied responsibility for the outages blaming it entirely on GRIDCo.

Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of ECG, William Boateng said: “The problem is not from ECG, it’s from our transmission company in Ghana here, GRIDCo. GRIDCo is having some challenges.”

Meanwhile, GRIDCo in the statement said its technicians are working round the clock to restore power to the affected areas.

“GRIDCo is working to restore supply to consumers,” the statement added.

GRIDCo faults result in mass blackouts
Technical challenges confronting the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) resulted in widespread blackouts in GRIDCo-served regions in July 2017.

Power was however restored a few hours later.

A similar power outage was also recorded on May 3, 2017 as a result of a surge of power leading to the loss of a number of GRIDCo generators across the country and the subsequent loss of power.

It took over 12 hours to fully restore power that time.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Monday’s ‘dumsor’ caused by transmission disturbance – GRIDCo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In the farewell message, Mr. Amuna recounted his experiences while serving at GRIDCo. His resignation came on the back of the expiration of his four-year term.

Engineer William Amuna assumed the mandate in September 2013.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive, Ing. William Amuna worked with the Volta River Authority (VRA) where he began his career in 1985 as an Assistant Engineer, and rose to the position of Director, Projects and Systems Monitoring.

Below is the farewell message :

Farewell Message and Letter of Gratitude

My Dear colleagues of GRIDCo

Late 1985 I joined the VRA as a national serviceman and was recruited into the VRA as Assistant Protection and Control Engineer in the Transmission systems unit in 1987 after my service.

I was posted to the NESRP project shortly after and led the commissioning team for the extension of the Grid to the North working in Kumasi, Techiman, Wenchi, Berekum, Tamale, Yendi, Bolga, Baku , Navrongo, and Wa.

I returned to the Akosombo Area after the project was posted to Tema as systems Metering and Instrumentation Engineer.
In 2002,the VRA sent me to Havard Kennedy school (Then Known as Kennedy School of Government) to undertake a Master in Public Administration course in Cambridge Massachusetts where I graduated in 2003.

I returned to VRA and was posted to the Technical Services Department in 2003 as Principal P&C Engineer. In 2004, I was appointed Manager for P&C in the TSD and then Acting Director TSD in 2006. I was confirmed as Director TSD in 2009. This narration is to tell you how my whole life has been linked to the power system and the transmission systems in particular.

in 2013, H.E John Dramani Mahama appointed me Chief Executive of GRIDCo and I started work on the 13th September 2013 on a 4-yr Contract. Time Flies!!! My contract expired on the 12th of September 2017.

I have made so many friends and come to know many workers by their names and its been pure joy working with you. Today I bid you goodbye. A new GRIDCo board is being sworn in and a New Chief Executive will be replacing me. My tenor as CE witnessed some of the most terrible times of the power systems characterised by load shedding and lack of funds.

However I served GRIDCo and Ghana with total commitment. To the best of my ability and with utmost sincerity. I tried to be fair and good to all manner of people and this was helped by my trademark unorthodox style of management that involved walking around and chatting with all grades of workers.

I tried to expand training to cover everybody and the training of Mechanics in Zambia I consider to be one of the best things I did.

I really enjoyed the support of all of you. I am eternally grateful to you all for that support and show of love.

To management staff, I say Thank you very much! To the Senior staff I say Thank you very much! To the Unionised staff, I say Thank you very much!

As I depart I will urge you to give my succesor the same support you gave me. We have one beautiful country Ghana to develop and we need to work hard as the power system is linked to all other developmental activities in Ghana.

I have loved the following Peom Invictus by William Ernest Henley. It has been an encouragement to me all my life.

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me unafraid

In matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul

Yes I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul and sure I am the master of my fate and I am the captain of my soul.

I expect our paths to cross again in future.

Meda Moase

Min da nye shin

Nagoode

Akpe

And in my own Gurune language, Mpoosi Ya zo zo

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post William Amuna bids GRIDCo farewell appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

As it stands, GRIDCo is owed over GHc 600 million and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is a major contributor to this debt, according to Chief Executive of GRIDCo, William Amuna, who was speaking before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Monday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”DtUeKOrLF6udjRLHsy1ZqcOCgcZRVaOy”]”The Electricity Company of Ghana continues to build up the debt and unfortunately, we are unable to disconnect them because of you disconnect ECG, it will have a domino effect… virtually everything will come to a stall.”

GRIDCo can opt to disconnect consumers, as happens in its dealings with mining companies when payment is not coming, but in the case of ECG, it has to resort to “other means to get the monies back.”

The company is, therefore, looking forward to the speedy implementation of the energy sector refinancing module that “will ensure that everybody within the energy sector is paid whatever is owed.”

The Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) also owes GRIDCo in excess of $20 million though “they are operating one port line so it is not much of problem to us,” Mr. Amuna said.

“So we are just banking on the [Energy] ministry coming out with this new arrangement [energy sector refinancing module] to ensure that we get our monies.”

The Director of Finance at GRIDCo, Isaac Kwame Akesseh also explained that the energy sector refinancing module.

“Currently there is an ongoing refinancing where the government is trying to refinance the energy debt stock and as part of the arrangement, there is also going to be put in place a cash waterfall arrangement; where an independent body will do the collection and does the allocation to the various entities as agreed [via a formula].”

Failings at ECG

Some analysts in the energy sector are, however, sceptical this cash waterfall mechanism to help the power sector will yield little results if the ECG fails to improve its revenue collection.

They believe ECG was should overcome the underlying challenge of revenue mobilization and this should translate to the prompt settlement of monies owed all agencies in the supply chain.

The failure of ECG to collect power consumed and pay its creditors has led to major difficulties for players in the energy sector, hampering their operations.

At present, the government is faced with a legacy debt of 2.4 billion dollars sitting on the books of banks.

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GRIDCo banking on refinancing module to deal with debts appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This, he said was part of plans to increase the capacity of its supplies, and also ensure power reliability and stability to the country’s capital due to the heavy demand for power.

[contextly_sidebar id=”sEkucIqN1rkPJjpJpz88AthNhjm9fc5R”]According to Mr. Amuna, the project will last for a period of one year at a cost of 21 million dollars, and it is being financed by the AFD.

“All the lines from Tema to Accra in the next one year will see a total upgrade where a total reconstruction will be done. The capacity available now will be increased by five folds,” he told Citi News.

Mr. Amuna explained that, currently, the towers carry a total load of 627 MVA which has become woefully inadequate to meet the demands of the capital, but added that the current upgrade when completed, will increase the current capacity to about 3000 MVA.

He said the exercise has become necessary due to the increased demand for power in the capital, but assured the public that it would be managed efficiently to avoid load shedding.

“We are going to manage the exercise in a way that will not call for load shedding. We shall take it one at a time to save us from having to shed load while we carry out the exercise” he stated.

He said the towers that will be changed during the period of the exercise will stretch from Tema through to Achimota to Mallam.

According to Mr. Amuna, the company is also putting up a new sub station in Central Accra near the Graphic Corporation to forestall any power outages in the capital.

“We want to come out with a system such that when you lose power from one source, you have other sources that can supply you such that you don’t go off at all” Mr Amuna indicated.

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By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GRIDCo to upgrade towers for improved power supply to Accra appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

An announcement from the Electricity Company of Ghana confirmed the challenges and noted that GRIDCo engineers were working to restore power.

Reports indicate that the power in some areas of the various affected regions returned after a while.

On May 3, Ghana witnessed a nationwide blackout as a result of a surge of power leading to the loss of a number of GRIDCo generators across the country and the subsequent loss of power.

It took over 12 hours to fully restore power at the time.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GRIDCo faults result in mass blackouts appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A statement from GRIDCo noted that “technical teams from the generation, transmission and distribution worked throughout the night to facilitate the restoration of power after the outage which occurred at 9: 40 pm yesterday May 3, 2017.”

“There are ongoing works to restore power to isolated areas in the distribution network, especially consumers served from the Mallam Substation,” the statement added.

GRIDCo has also commenced investigations into the cause of the general outage and “will inform the public of its preliminary.”

As at around 7: 00 am on Thursday morning, about 50 percent of the power had already been restored, according to the Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, William Amuna who spoke on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Explaining the blackout,  Mr. Amuna said “there was a surge of power around 9:40 pm last night, we lost many generators across the country. As a consequence, we lost supply to most parts of the country.”

“…We started the restoration programme till about 1 am when we were above 1,000 megawatts but there was a swing in the power system again and we lost some generation but we are in the process of restoring power” he added.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Power restored to all bulk supply points – GRIDCo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

GRIDCo’s assurance follows a nationwide blackout on Wednesday night.

[contextly_sidebar id=”PK3Giuu1XCHjJsxPWniTV5u39Mrx8JTl”]Speaking to Citi News’ Bernard Avle, the Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Mr. William Amuna, said: “almost 50 percent of power had already been restored” adding that GRIDCO is “building up gradually and we should be done in three hours.”

Giving further explanations on the occurrence, Mr. Amuna said: “there was a surge of power around 9:40pm last night. We lost many generators across the country. As a consequence, we lost supply to most parts of the country.”

“…We started the restoration programme till about 1 am when we were above 1,000 megawatts but there was a swing in the power system again and we lost some generation but we are in the process of restoring power,” he added.

Asked whether GRIDCO knew the cause of the blackout, Mr. Amuna said : “we would have to go through our system to indicate exactly what happened but the concentration has been on restoring power to the nation.”

Mr. Amuna also confirmed that “this is the second time a nationwide blackout has occurred.”

The last time a nationwide blackout occurred was in January 2016.

The Electricity Company of Ghana had explained that the problem was due to what it described as a “system collapse.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Nationwide blackout : Power will be restored in 3 hours – GRIDCo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Giving further explanations on the occurrence,  Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), Mr. William Amuna said: “there was a surge of power around 9:40pm last night; we lost many generators across the country. As a consequence, we lost supply to most parts of the country.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”GgpbIpw4ZZdgnRYKEVzvynGyMAGOa3Pi”]”…We started the restoration programme till about 1 am when we were above 1,000 megawatts but there was a swing in the power system again and we lost some generation but we are in the process of restoring power,” he added.

Asked whether GRIDCO knew the cause of the blackout, Mr. Amuna said : “we would have to go through our system to indicate exactly what happened but the concentration has been on restoring power to the nation.”

Mr. Amuna also confirmed that “this is the second time a nationwide blackout has occurred.”

He however indicated that “almost 50% of the power has been restored” adding that GRIDCO is still working to restore power to the nation.

The lights went off around 9 pm.

The last time a nationwide blackout hit Ghana was in January 2016.

The Electricity Company of Ghana had explained that the problem was due to what it described as a “system collapse.”

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By: Marian Ansah/ citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nationwide blackout hits Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Casely-Hayford argued.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Tuesday lamented that he inherited a $2.4 billion highly indebted power sector from the previous government.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ysdXVmJCIUHNNK7r3hdFSn9oHzdWeCod”]He further disclosed that his government is considering moves of listing the GRIDCo and VRA on the stock exchange, a revelation that has been met with varied opinions.

“…We have begun to develop a national electricity master plan which will also explore the benefits of listing VRA and GRIDCO on the stock exchange,” he added.

But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Casely-Hayford said the move will give the private sector too much influence in the affairs of the nation’s energy sector.

“I really think it’s a bad idea because you are going to give private sector the opportunity to shut you down. Private sector will not accept that their tariffs are capped and it’s an unprofitable cap. If it is going to worked at it has to be calculated in a such a way that the cap will make them profitable and that they will achieve profitability from cost savings and not from raising the cap. So the minute you give them the restriction of making loses…they will shut the system down and walk away,” he explained.

“As we speak, government owes VRA plenty money. VRA owes GRIDCo. GRIDco is owed by ECG. The public does not owe ECG; they have been paying their tariffs without fail except that in this instance government is subsidizing the tariff in order to be able to carry on what it considers to be an affordable rate for the public to pay.”

Don’t rush

In a related development some analysts in the energy sector have cautioned of long term costs to government should it rush through the process to list the VRA and GRIDCo on the stock exchange.

Though they contend of the benefits in restructuring the operations of the institutions, the analysts fear of a potential dip of the policy should government fail to undertake due diligence.

“This is the way to solve the inefficiencies in the country’s energy sector. We should not rush into it; there is a lot that has to be done which is why we need to undertake some market intelligence and even the timing must be taken into consideration and that is very important if you want to generate a lot of market interest,” the Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr. Steve Manteaw said in an interview.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Listing GRIDCO, VRA on stock exchange ‘bad idea’ – Casely-Hayford appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This, in PUWU’s view, could present an alternative to government’s plan to list the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) on the stock exchange as part of its master plan for the electricity sector.

[contextly_sidebar id=”L4Ey1nC6q8EbwB7HqY1aR9FhcFKRRjZv”]Government said this would strengthen the power sector along with the competitive procurement process, thus reducing the cost of power projects and ensuring value for money.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the General Secretary of the Union, Richard Ampabeng said other countries have succeeded using pension funds.

He noted that “everywhere in the world, especially Canada that I know of, they make use of their workers’ pension money because this is long-term money and they use it in listing their electricity. The UK itself is using their workers’ pensions in driving the companies that are coming to Africa to privatise our electricity.”

“So why can’t we as a nation say that we are listing these companies but strategically, we are using our pensions to run it so that everybody will now own this company?”

Mr. Ampabeng, however, stated that governments openness to engagement and consultation on the matter was in the right direction.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Consider using pension funds to support power sector – PUWU appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.