Defer planned maintenance works - PURC tells GRIDCo
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has asked the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to defer its planned maintenance exercise on the transmission network until contingency measures are put in place to mitigate the impact.
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It explained that if no reasonableness was attached to the execution of the replacement and maintenance exercise, it was likely to compound the current electricity challenges, which would result in a national emergency.
“While the commission acknowledges the importance of the execution of the planned maintenance works it is also mindful of the current challenges being faced in the supply of electricity nationwide and its impact on consumers of electricity and even water,” the statement, signed by Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, Director, Public Relations and External Affairs, said.
The PURC, therefore, directed GRIDCo to furnish it with the schedule of works and planned completion dates for maintenance of the Transmission Network Infrastructure.
Contingency
The statement also urged GRIDCo to provide the commission with details of all contingency measures the company had deployed to mitigate any impact the interruption of the transmission network might have on consumers.
It noted that GRIDCo was enjoined by law to provide prior information to the commission before any future public announcements for planned maintenance works which might result in interruptions that will worsen the current load-shedding situation.
It said GRIDCo should also provide a clear communication strategy it intended to deploy to inform stakeholders and the public about intended interruptions associated with the planned maintenance works.
Maintenance
GRIDCo has announced a planned major replacement/maintenance exercise which is scheduled for completion by July 2016.
The rehabilitation exercise, known as the Substations Reliability Enhancement Project (SREP), is meant to replace all obsolete equipment in all the substations of the company in the country.
Under the project, equipment such as control and relay panels, disconnect switches, circuit breakers, transformers and power lines and ditches of GRIDCo will all be changed and upgraded.
The entire project, which has already started at the Achimota Substation in Accra, is estimated to cost 40 million euros with a cedi component of GH¢50 million and is being funded by the government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Power.