Energy crisis in the country has worsened for the past few weeks leading to erratic unannounced power outages being the order of the day.
Industries have been worst hit by the crisis with some business owners losing lots of production hours.
Public Relations Officer for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Dan Adjei Larbi, says it is unable to publish the load shedding timetable for consumers to know when their electricity will go off since the Volta River Authority (VRA) has not given them any information on the quantum of power they would be working with.
The information on quantum of power available, will guide the ECG to draw a timetable on which areas to go off, and at what day and time.
But it appears his comments are in sharp contrast to that of the Head of Communications of the VRA, Sam Fletcher, who insists ECG does have a timetable for the outages.
The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) on its part describes the unannounced blackouts in the country as unacceptable.
According to the Director of Public Affairs and External Relations at the PURC, Nana Yaa Jantuah, per PURC regulations, consumers must be periodically updated on the load shedding and other activities that are likely to affect them (consumers). But according to her, the energy providers are rather giving conflicting reports regarding the cause of the power outages.
However, National Youth Organiser of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sammy Awuku, believes blame should squarely be laid at the doorstep of the PURC, and accuses them of “acting as if they are not part of the problem.”
He told Kwami Sefa Kayi on ‘Kokrokoo’ that the “PURC sometimes takes us for a ride. When they realize that the citizens are beginning to bare their teeth at them, they bring out a statement distancing themselves from the situation”.
“We have passed this theatrics stage and if we bare teeth at government, PURC will not escape the blame. They know what is happening. I think PURC can do better than this…we pay taxes for them to perform their duties and not for them to sing…In the midst of all these it is the poor that suffers; the rich can buy generators and stabilisers. Then you PURC, who should know better, are coming to tell us what? It is a deliberate attempt to pass the buck…these four entities: GRIDCo, VRA, ECG and PURC are all aware of what is going on,” he insisted.