Prepare for ‘dumsor’ during Christmas if ECG fails to pay us – GRIDCo threatens

Staff of the Ghana Grid Company(GRIDCo) are threatening to shut down power plants, plunging the country into outages popularly known as ‘dumsor’, if the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) fails to clear their debt.

In a letter signed by Wisdom Kojo Adenyo, the Senior Staff Association’s National Chairman and addressed to the Minister of Energy, the Board Chairman, and the Chief Executive of GRIDCo, the aggrieved staff noted that there will be a return of ‘dumsor’ this Christmas if the financial status of the company is not improved with immediate effect.

They explained that GRIDCo bills ECG – their major customer – over GH₵100 million per month, out of which only about 18% to 25% is paid, and in an irregular manner.

“The chunk of the revenue sits in our books without any plans to redeem same. This situation has made it difficult to pay suppliers and procure the requisite tools, materials and spares, all of which adversely affect the business,” the statement added.

According to the staff of GRIDCo, the ongoing challenges in the cash flow of the company have implications not only on their operations but also on the service delivery to customers and the general welfare of staff.

“The main cause of the poor cash flow situation is because the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, which is used as the mode of payment to the industry players within the sector, is not working and is suspected to have been discontinued,” they stated.

The staff are blaming ECG for their refusal to pay, in full, for the services rendered to them by the company.

“We, the staff groups, wish to caution that if the Cash Waterfall Mechanism is not restored immediately or other means of financial support provided for GRIDCo, we cannot guarantee smooth power supply, especially during this festive season and going forward”.

Find the full statement below.