PDS publishes list of regions affected by power outages on Saturday

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Power Distribution Services Ghana Limited has published a list of areas of the country that will experience power outages on Saturday, April 6th.

These regions include parts of the regions of Volta, Central, West, Greater Accra, Tema and East.

In Accra, parts of Osu, the new city, the National Theater, Dansoman, Alisa Hotel and Odokor, among others, will be affected. The failure will last from 4 hours to 18 hours.

The blackout comes from the Atuabo gas processing plant that was shut down last week.

At a press conference Monday, Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr. William Owuraku Aidoo, apologized for the inconvenience caused by the blackouts.

"On behalf of Energy Minister John-Peter Amewu and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I would like to apologize to the people of Ghana for the current situation and to Make sure that we have taken steps to address the challenge, he said.

"Our goal, as a department, was to dramatically reduce the impact of the exercise of interconnectivity. So we thought the public would not even be informed of the partial stop, but unfortunately, that's where we are. "

Meanwhile, Ghanaians are shocked by the lack of power. When the blackouts started at the end of March in Kokomlemle, residents argued for a government response after an insufficient stock left them in the dark for days.

Kwesi Owusu is a tailor whose work has been "enormously affected" by lack of electricity. "Customers are disappointed. The government must solve this problem, "he told Joy FM.

Another resident, Joseph, has a hairdresser and uses a haircut in his hand. "I had to refuse most of my clients. It's pathetic. "

Isaac Nurris Ainooson, public relations manager of the PDS Accra East, told Joy FM last Saturday that the problem was due to a faulty seal on the power lines.

He explained that in March and April specifically, extreme temperatures and the corresponding need for electricity overload the power grid, resulting in power outages.

Ainooson did not want to confirm nor deny if the power would remain stable, although he mentioned that the problem had been temporarily solved.

Read more: Foundations of recent power outages across the country

"We had to throw food, which has a cost. Some of us had to sleep outside because there is no air entering the room, "said another resident of Accra living in Madina, where the power was also cut for several days. It's frustrating. "

In 2016, Erasmus Kyere Baidoo, head of public relations of the ECG (now PDS) in Ashanti, told Al Jazeera that one of the major problems of Ghana's electricity supply is that "People are trying to cheat the system."

He explained that only about 40% of ECG customers (now PDS) pay their bills, resulting in multi-million dollar debt.

"What about 60% [of customers that don’t pay]"Baidoo asked." Are you going to stop everyone? Are you going to deny them power because they have not paid their bills? "

Last year, the Minister of Energy refuted rumors that dumsor would come back.

"We are not in an era of" dum koraaa. "The lights are extinguishing as we see it, but I can badure you that this long period during which we had envisaged that our opponents think they want to take advantage of this period will never come because we are managing the system, "he said.

He continued, "We have people here to run the system and we can give Ghanaians confidence that the situation is now very much under control."