The Northern Electricity Distribution Company will from today 14th September 2015 shed off 20 megawatts of power instead of 30 megawatts to ease up the current load shedding exercise in the upper east region.
There have been a brooding tension and apprehension in the region over an intensified load shedding exercise and residents in Bolgatanga have questioned the worsening power situation at a time when the power ministry had announced the generation of more power to augment the deepened power crisis in the country.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East with Azongo Albert Monday, Head of Public Affairs at NEDCO Alhaji Mohammed Siam said the capacity to determine the duration for shedding power does not rest in the capacity of NEDCO but rather the electricity distribution body takes orders from the power generation body which is GRIDCO.
“We are powerless when it comes to load shedding. We are not managing the load shedding program but it is GRIDCO that does so. Sometimes we are asked to shed off power within a short period and we have to comply” he said.
He also added that some of the moments when power went off outside of the schedule can be attributed to technical faults and that will be investigated.
Alhaji Siam also disclosed that there has been a review of the load management exercise after series of appeals to GRIDCO and effective 14th September 2015 an amount of 20 megawatts of power will be shed off instead of the 30 megawatts which has always been shed off for the northern distribution zone. This according to him will improve the power situation in the upper east region.
“When you people talk we listen. Like I said we are powerless when it comes to load management. We made appeals beyond GRIDCO and VRA to the honorable minister. So we looked at the generation and said that from today at least until further notice the 30 megawatts which we usually shed off must reduce to 20 megawatts. So from today a new time table is coming out and instead of experiencing 48 hours power on, it may increase to 72 hours power on and 12 hours off. The time table is currently being prepared by the technical team and it will be out” he added.
The usual duration of outage from 6pm-6am will however remain intact when the power goes off during the evenings per the new time table that is yet to be released.
By: Azongo Albert | A1radioonline.com | Ghana
