William Owuraku Aidoo, Deputy Minister of Energy says the threat by the Chamber of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to withdraw electricity services is tantamount to blackmail.
Aidoo said as a sovereign nation, Ghana will not stand for this threat, especially heading into the 7 December election.
He said, the individual power producers are reasonably happy with the arrangement with the government, therefore, the statement from the Chamber is unfortunate.
The deputy energy minister said he cannot understand why the Chamber of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) will issue such threats with only three weeks to an election.
Speaking with Asaase Business, he said, “I do believe having spoken to these individual Independent power producers, they are reasonably happy with the arrangement that we have with them. So three weeks to elections it is very unfortunate to hear this Chamber of Independent Power Producers coming out to say that they want to pull the plug on us which is unfortunate.”
The independent power producers and bulk distributors last week threatened to withdraw its services in the coming days, a situation that could trigger power cuts, popularly called dumsor.
In a letter from the IPPs to Ghana Grid Company Limited with the Energy Minister and the Electricity Company of Ghana in copy, the Chamber of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) said the action has become necessary as it demands ECG and government to settle at least 80% of its indebtedness worth US$1 billion, in a matter of urgency.
The letter said the respective Central Control Rooms of the IPPs are expected to communicate with the GRIDCo’s System Control Center for the potential shutdown.
Conspiracy
But Owuraku Aidoo said his recent interactions with the individual IPPs, they assured him that there is no cause for alarm “so it is rather very worrying that the Chamber will come out and speak for people who are not saying the same things as it [the Chamber] is saying.”
He said, “The Chamber is creating unnecessary panic in my humble estimation, unnecessary panic within the system.
“I do believe having spoken to these individual Independent Power Producers they are reasonably happy with the arrangement that we have with them. So three weeks to elections it is very unfortunate to hear this Chamber of Independent Power Producers coming out to say that they want to pull a plug on us,” he added.
He said the government has an “understanding” with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), adding, “government is making good, paying them cash and bonds. And as far as the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Finance is concerned we do not have any problem with the power producers.”
Owuraku Aidoo said the government is working to settle its indebtedness to the IPPs.
“Work is actually going on, don’t forget that we are in the middle of renegotiation with virtually all the IPPs and it is not complete. So as soon as the renegotiation is complete, I am sure we will see our way clear as to how we are going to clear the outstanding,” he said.
The Energy Sector Levies Act, 2015 (Act 899) as amended (Act 946), was passed into law in 2015, mainly to address the huge debt burden and operational challenges facing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the energy sector, support power generation and power supply sustainability.
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