The government has vowed to assist the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) unwaveringly in order for it to fulfill its financial commitments to power generators, particularly independent power producers (IPPs), for the country's sustained power supply.
Herbert Krapah, a deputy minister of energy, gave the assurance in an interview with journalists yesterday on the sidelines of the Energy Commission's launch of the Electrical Wiring Programme (EWP), which celebrated its tenth anniversary. He said the current focus was to support the company in recouping its tariff arrears of more than GH5.7 billion owed by power consumers.
"The first step is to assist the ECG in recovering what is already available.
That is one strategy to help the business pay off some of its obligations and grow. "We have a system in place to make sure that money collected is allocated equally and equitably to all participants, including private businesses," the official said.
full support
According to Mr. Krapa, ECG's current income mobilization push is a positive move since it will help the public utility business become more resourceful so that it can fulfill its obligations.
"The government fully supports ECG's efforts to mobilize income.
The energy minister, his deputies, and the ministry leadership met with ECG to finalize the implementation mechanisms before ECG launched the scheme.
"The government has the utmost support for the ECG," he continued.
He said that it was crucial that ECG continue the effort to mobilize revenue. Debts
Huge debts are owed to power generators, including the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Bui Power Authority (BPA), and Independent Power Producers (IPPs), by ECG, the primary power distributor in the nation.
As of February of this year, it owed nine IPPs, who together control nearly 50% of the nation's energy generation mix, about $1.4 billion.
In March of this year, Dr. Elikplim Apetorgbor, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Independent Power Generators of Ghana (IPGG), informed the Daily Graphic that the debt had almost crippled the operations of the nine IPPs.
"The ECG cannot guarantee uninterrupted electricity supply for the upcoming two weeks if a portion of the debt owing to our members is not paid up." The circumstances are so serious that there needs to be quick action taken, he stated.
According to estimates, the power distributor owed BPA more than $600 million.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament learned about this earlier this year.
The ECG owes the BPA $386 million as of the end of December 31, 2019, and that amount would rise to $614,373,274.36 by the end of 2022, according to the Auditor General's report.
According to the 2020 Auditor-General's report, VRA owes ECG, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), and Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) nearly GH4.7 billion, or roughly 72% of the balance sheet for the power generation.
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