2024 outages not due to transformer overloads — Energy Minister defends past comments

The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, has defended his earlier claims that intermittent power outages in 2024 were not caused by faulty transformers but by deeper supply challenges.

Dr. Jinapor, who was then the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, had rejected the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s explanation that the outages were due to faulty or overloaded transformers.

He argued at the time that the real issue was a lack of funds to procure fuel, leading to a power generation deficit.

His past comments resurfaced after recent outages under his tenure as minister were attributed to transformer faults and ongoing upgrade works, drawing accusations of inconsistency.

Responding to questions on Accra-based JoyNews’ Newsfile programme on Saturday, May 2, Dr. Jinapor noted there was no contradiction in his position, stressing that the context of the outages differs.

“I've just sent you the load shedding schedule for 2024, for 12 continuous months, there was a load shed,” he told the host, Sampson Lardi Anyenini

He explained that while the previous administration presided over prolonged load shedding, the recent interruptions under his leadership were short-term and linked to technical upgrades rather than systemic power deficits.

“We had our interruption for one week, less than one week and we communicated to Ghanaians. That is responsible leadership, and that’s exactly what I was talking about. So there’s no contradiction at all,” he stated.

Dr. Jinapor emphasised that his tenure has seen transparency in communicating power challenges to the public by disclosing generation shortfalls when they occurred.

The minister added that data from 2024 showed consistent load shedding, unlike the current situation where outages are largely tied to infrastructure upgrades and localized faults.