Ghana: Independent Power Producers Serve Final Shutdown Notice To Government

Independent Power Generators, Ghana, formerly Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Bulk Distributors and Consumers (CiPDiB), have reminded the government to honour their request by paying 30 per cent of the US$1.6 billion outstanding arrears to avoid a total shutdown of their power plants from July 1, 2023.

The group warned that failure on the part of the government to settle the said amount will not guarantee continued power supply to the national grid.

The group communicated this in a letter to the Minister for Finance on Thursday, stating that they are now unable to persuade their creditors, contractors and other essential stakeholders to further withhold payment and maintain operations.

“We had indicated in our letters that IPPs needed to receive an interim payment of 30% of the outstanding arrears of each IPP by 20th June 2023. Unfortunately, we have not seen any good faith indication or commitment of such impending payment from ECG/Government as of today, June 21, 2023, despite the Electricity Company of Ghana’s recent collection efforts, as reported in the media, which yielded circa ¢3.1 billion,” the group said in a letter sighted by energynewsafrica.com.

The group, which controls more than 50 per cent of the power generation in West Africa, urged the government to resolve its debt to them as soon as possible.

According to them, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) owed them around $1.4 billion as of May.    Because of the debt, the IPPs lacked working cash to finance inputs such as chemicals for cleaning water for the thermal generators and other supplies, many of which were priced in foreign currency, primarily the US dollar.

They claimed they owed banks, and some had to make repayments this month but had to pay a penalty for defaulting, stating that they have been suffering in silence due to rising debts.

“We refer to our letters dated March 27, 2023, and May 25, 2023, with reference numbers IPGG/1/2023 and IPGG/2/2023 addressed to the Minister [Finance] by which the IPP Chamber stressed the urgent necessity for the government to prioritise payment of the outstanding arrears owed to members of the IPP Chamber to enable the IPPs to cover critical operational costs required to continue operations and pay overdue debt service,” the letter to the Finance Minister added.

It further urged the government, the Electricity Company of Ghana and other stakeholders to regard this reminder with the seriousness it deserves and to take the necessary actions.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com