Ghana Announces 3 Weeks Of Power Outage, Links Decision To Nigeria Gas Supply

• Ghana has announced three weeks of power outage in some areas across the country due to shortage of gas supplies from Nigeria
• The Ghana Grid Company LTD. (GRIDCO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) disclosed this in a joint statement
• The power companies explained that the reduction in gas supply was due to maintenance works by the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO)

Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 5 years of experience covering metro and government policy

Accra, Ghana - The Ghana Grid Company LTD. (GRIDCO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) have announced three weeks of power outage in parts of the country because of a shortage of gas supplies from Nigeria.

ECG said a temporary shutdown for maintenance works at an unnamed Nigerian gas supplier was to blame.

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This was disclosed in a joint statement issued by the power companies on Thursday, June 13.

The statement, which was shared by @NigeriaStories on X (formerly known as Twitter) partially reads:

“Due to a reduction in gas supply from Nigeria since yesterday, Wednesday 12th June, 2024 some areas across the country have experienced interruption in power supply.

“The West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO), in a statement, has explained that the reduction in gas supply was due to maintenance works being undertaken by a gas supplier in Nigeria and is projected to last three (3) weeks.

“The maintenance has caused a reduction in overall power generation capacity in Ghana which could result in load management over the period of the work.”

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According to BBC, growing debt may be behind the power shortages that started early this year.

The ECG owes about $1.2bn to private energy producers, which also include Nigerian suppliers.

It was gathered that private suppliers threatened to shut down operations over the arrears in July, 2023.

FG Orders reduction of electricity supply

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian government mandated power-generating companies to reduce electricity supply to neighbouring countries.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) gave the order following high indebtedness by the three countries.

The directives mandated system operator to limit power generation to Togo, Benin Republic, and Niger to six per cent pending payment of debts

Source: Legit.ng