Ghana: Pay 30% Of Outstanding Arrears By June 30—IPPs To Gov’t

The Independent Power Generators, Ghana, formerly Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Bulk Distributors and Consumers (CiPDiB) has given the Government of Ghana up to June 30, 2023, to settle 30 per cent of their outstanding arrears to guarantee continued power supply to the national grid.

The group communicated this in a letter to the Minister for Finance after their emergency meeting on Tuesday, 23rd May 2023.

According to the group, government arrears to them for power supplied to the national grid have ballooned to the cedis equivalent of circa US$1.6 billion to date.

The group said they are aware that ECG’s recent revenue mobilisation exercise yielded some Gh¢3.1Billion.

The group said the above notwithstanding the arrears continue to increase and no improvement on the part of ECG /Government to settle the debt to enable them to persuade their creditors, contractors and key stakeholders to defer critical payments required to maintain operations.

“We are pleased to learn that the Government has successfully concluded the IMF negotiations. We are aware that in the 2023 Budget approved in line with the IMF Staff Level Agreement, allocations were made for payments to IPPs. We are also aware of the Electricity Company of Ghana’s recent debt collection efforts, as reported in the media which yielded circa Gh¢3.1 Billion.

In a letter to the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori Atta on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, sighted by energynewsafrica.com, the group mentioned that in their letter of 28th March 2023, they demanded significant payment of their outstanding arrears, but Government failed to honour their request thereby putting pressure on their members.

“Regrettably, we must stress that unless we receive the payment requested by the said date, members of the chamber will not be in the position to guarantee the continued generation of electricity,” the group said.

The IPPs comprising Aksa Energy, Amandi Energy, Sunon Asogli Power Ghana, Early Power, Cenpower Generation, Cenit Energy, Trogan, Meinergy, and Karpowership Ghana Limited generate more than 50 per cent of the power supply to the national grid.

 Source: https://energynewsafrica.com