We’re committed to uninterrupted power supply – GRIDCo Board Chair

The Board Chairman of Ghana Grid Company, (GRIDCo), Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, has stated that the leadership of the company has put in place measures to ensure that the company's mandate as the backbone of power delivery in Ghana remains consistent.

According to him, GRIDCo is committed to reliable power supply to Ghanaians.

Addressing delegates at the company's 10th Annual General Meeting in Accra, he said that regular engagements with key stakeholders are ongoing to resolve the differences and ensure that Ghanaians enjoy consistent provision of power at all times.

“The Board and Management have spent the last three years restoring the needed stability to the operations of the company and I'm proud to say that we are on a revival to carry on our mandate without fail,” he said.

This is management’s first official comment following recent staff agitations over unpaid debts.

GRIDCo's Senior Staff Association recently held a press conference demanding payment of unpaid debts totalling over GHS1 billion from key institutions including ECG, Valco, and NedCo.

They asked staff of the organization to withdraw all emergency services to push the government to settle the debt owed the company by ECG, VALCO, PDS, and NEDCO.

The union further threatened a strike action beginning December 4, 2019, if the government fails to heed to their demands.

However, Mr. Amihere assured the senior staff that management is hopeful that if debts owed it are cleared, it would be profitable in the coming year.

On his part, Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Jonathan Amoako-Baah, debunked media reports that a brief power outage across the country some days ago was directly linked to the intended staff strike action.

“There's no linkage at all. What happened some days ago was purely a technical challenge arising from power swings on our transmission line to Cote D'Ivoire,” he said.

Also, the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), representing government, said pragmatic initiatives have been adopted to support GRIDCo to deliver on its mandate.

CEO of SIGA, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng indicated that ECG has taken steps to settle its debts to the energy transmitter.

“Government has also taken steps to commit some of the debts owed GRIDCo into equity to shore up the performance of the company. We will support GRIDCo to a point where the company can confidently begin paying dividends. We will work with GRIDCo to ensure increase in shareholder value,” he said.

The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to with immediate effect settle the power sector debt affecting operations of the Ghana Grid Company.

ECG is said to be owing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the country large sums of money although it seldom receives money from the state to pay part of the debt.

The IPPs which supplied about 1,500 megawatts of electricity have continually threatened to shut down their plants if the government fails to settle debts owed them.

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