Dumsor will continue until the end of the year – IES warns

The Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES), Nana Amoasi VII, has warned that Ghana’s ongoing power outages, known as dumsor, will persist until the end of the year unless critical issues in the energy sector are addressed.

His comments follow reports of widespread intermittent power supply, raising concerns over the stability of the national electricity grid.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, February 21, 2025, Nana Amoasi VII attributed the crisis to inefficiencies within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), ageing infrastructure, and financial constraints affecting key energy sector players.

He emphasized that Ghana’s power generation capacity is critically low, with demand frequently matching or exceeding supply. He also noted that power plants are often unavailable due to fuel shortages or forced maintenance shutdowns, further straining electricity distribution.

“Until the ECG fixes its inefficiency, collects enough of the revenue, and ensures that each participant within the energy sector gets a fair share of the revenue, we will continue to have this challenge. This is because it will be difficult for the transmitter, GRIDCo, to invest in its ageing infrastructure, and even with ECG and its infrastructure, it is suffering.

“It will be difficult for the power generator, be it public or private, to generate power because they also need to make some input into the power generation. There will be difficulty for WAPCo to continue supplying the natural gas. So, we are in a very uncomfortable state.

“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 stated.

The crisis has been further compounded by the government’s inability to settle a $75 million debt owed to N-Gas Limited, which supplies gas to Ghana through the West Africa Gas Pipeline.

During a visit to the pipeline undergoing scheduled maintenance, Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, urged the public to bear with the government as it works to resolve the supply disruptions.

He cited the country’s lack of spare capacity as a major factor contributing to the ongoing power challenges.