Energy Crisis: Govt Holds Crunch Meeting With Independent Power Producers Today

In a move to prevent potential power crisis, the government through the Ministry of Energy is expected to hold an emergency meeting today with the Chamber of Independent Power Producers Ghana (IPPs) over some $2.3 billion debt owed them.

The IPPs who had threatened to shutdown their plants that supply power to the national grid few weeks ago rescinded that decision due to an assurance by the Electricity Company of Ghana to settle the debt through an agreed settlement schedule.

Today’s emergency meeting with the power producers has been necessitated by the failure of ECG to make good its promise even though the IPPs continue to supply power in the month of July after the expiration of the June 30 deadline.

The debt which initially stood at $ 2 billion has ballooned to $ 2.3bilion.

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Ben Boakye urged the government to reach an amicable resolution with the power producers to avert any power cuts.

“I hope that the meeting will yield results and come up with a plan to avert some of the problems in the energy sector because we cannot continue to generate so much waste that will warrant interruption in power supply and I hope that there will be a solution to our debt situation”, Mr Boakye stated.

Players in the energy sector have been expressing fears of a looming power crisis should the IPPs carry cut supply over the debt which keeps rising each passing day.

The IPPs which control about 50 percent of the country’s generation mix had highlighted that the debt has hindered their access to working capital, preventing them from financing crucial inputs such as chemicals for water treatment in thermal generators and other supplies, many of which are priced in foreign currency, primarily the US dollar.

The World Bank Managing Director in charge of Operations, Ann Bjerde during her recent visit to the country also called on government to implement an urgent emergency energy action plan to address challenges in the country’s energy sector.

She aalso stated that the country’s problems in the energy sector were very serious and would get worse with debilitating effects on economic growth if not addressed.