The Minority Caucus in Parliament is urgently calling on the government to allocate funds for purchasing fuel to sustain thermal power plants and ensure a consistent electricity supply for households and businesses.
The Caucus says there has been consistent load shedding by power generation companies since February 2, 2024, thereby frustrating businesses and households.
Speaking to the media, John Jinapor, the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, emphasized the necessity for government intervention to prevent the collapse of the energy sector.
He stressed that the power sector is on the verge of collapsing due to the inefficiencies of the government.
“We have been monitoring the power situation for the past month, and it appears, based on information available to us, that the power sector is collapsing.”
Jinapor also attributed these power challenges to financial constraints hindering the procurement of sufficient fuel for thermal plants, leading to decreased power generation capacity.
“Since February 2, there has been consistent and persistent load shedding by the generation companies, and indeed, the situation is getting worse by the day. The very day the president was delivering the State of the Nation Address, the utility company was shedding load, and yesterday alone, there was a whopping 530 megawatts of deficit, culminating in the curtailment of power to Burkina Faso, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire. Today, at 12 pm, load shedding will commence again, and our information indicates that some of the thermal plants are down and not generating enough power.”
“Because of the financial constraints, the government has not been able to procure adequate fuel to fire some of our thermal plants.”