Dumsor Is History

Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta has said power cuts popularly known as ‘dumsor’ has become history adding that, the NPP led government has successfully resolved the inconsistent power supply problem in the country.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to reaffirm that “dumsor is history, and we are determined to ensure that it remains that way. However, we are facing serious challenges in the energy sector that pose grave financial risks to the whole economy. At the heart of these challenges are the obnoxious take-or-pay contracts signed by the NDC, which obligate us to pay for capacity we do not need.

“We must urgently address these challenges to protect the hard-earned economic gains we have made in the past two-and-a-half years and continue with our economic growth and jobs agenda to improve the lives of Ghanaians. This Supplementary Budget therefore proposes a number of bold measures to confront the issues to ensure that the energy sector delivers the services required by Ghanaians, while maintaining financial viability.” he said while presenting the 2019 mid-year budget review.

The Chamber of Independent Power Producers and Bulk Consumers [CIPDIB] recently hinted Ghanaian power consumers of a possible power outages in the next few days (within a 7-8 working days period), if the Power Distribution Services (PDS) failed to pay its huge financial debt to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

A statement issued and signed by the Chief Executive Officer of CIPDIB, Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, urged the government through the Ministry of Energy to compel PDS to expressly pay all accumulated invoices to the IPPs within the seven days.

The statement further urged the government to not only make PDS pay its debts to the IPPs; but also be made to pay interest on all overdue invoices which the IPPs could have profitably utilized.