GRIDCo advises PDS to shed load till March 19th…

The Power Distribution Service (PDS) has been advised to shed load at various Bulk Supply Points to ensure system stability in Ghana’s power distribution.

A request by Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) disclosed in a press release today said due to the construction of the road interchange at the ACP Junction, Pokuase, the capacity of the transmission network will be limited.

The statement signed by GRIDCo’s Head of Public Relations, Albert Kwasi Quainoo added that the construction has taken out of service the 330kV Aboadze-Tema transmission line traversing the road to enable the contractor to divert the power line.

GRIDCo anticipates that the construction works would be completed by Tuesday, March 19, 2019.

“GRIDCo has accordingly advised Power Distribution Services (PDS) to redistribute loads at various Bulk Supply Points to ensure system stability. This may result in outages to some electricity consumers,” the statement said.

“It is anticipated that the diversion works would be completed by Tuesday, March 19, 2019”.

Parts of the country have in the past days witnessed power outages lasting between nine and 12 hours within a given period.

The outages have occurred in many parts of the capital, Accra, Cape Coast, Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi, Volta region and some parts of the Northern region.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, customers of PDS have complained of outages lasting between nine and 12 hours within given periods.

The outages come just weeks after the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) handed over operations of the company to PDS. The takeover took place in February 2019, with PDS beginning operations on March 1.

PURC to sanction PDS

The Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) has said it will sanction Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana if it finds that the recent power outages breach its service delivery guidelines.

Mami Dufie Ofori, Executive Secretary, said the Commission is closely monitoring the development and will initiate investigations into the outages to ascertain the real causes and will not hesitate to apply the required sanctions if need be.

“The appropriate enforcement or penalty we have in our system will be given if we find them guilty or in breach of the regulations,” Mrs Ofori told Joy News Precious Semevor at the launch of an office for the PURC to serve Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Region.

credit: myjoyonline.com