Ghana: Gov’t Averts Power Outages By Making Part Payment To Independent Power Producers

The Government of Ghana has released funds to settle part of its indebtedness to the Independent Power Producers in the West African nation.

According to the Deputy Minister for Finance, Charles Adu Boahen, the government has been making financial commitment to the IPPs and wondered why they have constantly been issuing threats to it.

“The IPPs are getting paid,” Mr. Charles Adu Boahen said in a response to a text message sent to him via the telephone.

The Chamber of Independent Power Producers Bulk Consumers and Distributors (CIPDiB), the umbrella body of the IPPs, last Thursday, November 12, 2020, served a warning notice to the CEO of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Ministry of Energy about their intention to shut down their power plants over failure of the government to settle its indebtedness.

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As at July, 2020 government owed IPPs to the tune of US$1.5 billion.

However, the government has managed to pay half a billion dollars of the debt, reducing the total debt to about US$1 billion.

It is not clear how much has been paid but sources within the IPPs Chamber told energynewsafrica.com that the government started crediting the account of their members last Friday, stressing that they are hoping that by
Monday, each of the IPPs would have received their portion of the amount released.

Though the source could not tell the quantum of the amount, it said it was below their expectations.

Ghana has about 21 power plants with total installed capacity of about 5,050MW.

Out of the 21 power plants, the state owns 10 with a total capacity of 2,270MW while the IPPs own 11 with a total capacity of 2780MW.

Source: www.energynewsafrica.com