We will see “dumsor” till the end of the year- Nana Amoasi (Executive Director of IES)

Nana Amoasi VII, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has warned Ghana’s ongoing powercut, known as dumsor will continue until the end of the year unless vital issues in the energy sector are addressed. Nana Amoasi’s comments follow reports of the widespread periodic power supply causing concerns regarding stability of the national electricity grid.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on February 21, 2025, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES) described critical situation to the systemic flaws within the Electricity Company Ghana (ECG), linking the financial mismanagement of ECG to the nation’s unstable lighting.

“The ECG’s inefficiency is a disruptor”, as Nana Amoasi said, stressing that the utility’s inability to collect the revenue has denied critical players including GRIDCo to invest in ageing infrastructure. “Without fair revenue distribution every link in this chain weakens”, he added.

Nana Amoasi also said “We know very well that we have these challenges and until we address the inefficiencies in the ECG, I am sorry to say again that we will see dumsor till the end of the year”.

He also emphasized that Ghana’s power generation capacity is  very low with demand continuously matching and exceeding supply. He also reported that the power plant are usually unavailable due to the shortages in fuel and forced maintenance shutdown, further straining the distribution of electricity.

The government’s inability to settle a debt of $75 million owed to N-Gas Limited, which supplies gas to Ghana through the West Africa Gas Pipeline has compounded to the crisis. Some of the reasons behind the crisis is the incident that took place in Kumasi, where a transformer was stolen which left parts of the city in darkness.

The Energy Minister and Green Transition, John Jinapor, urged the public to bear with the government as it works to resolve the supply disruptions while they visited the pipeline which is undergoing scheduled maintenance. ECG’s revival is non negotiable and not just keeping lights on but rather powering an economy that have been strained by inflation and debt.