…As Dumsor returns
Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, has suggested that there is more to the recently announced maintenance works being carried out by the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) at Atuabo leading to a shortfall in power generation.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has since released a load management schedule from Thursday, March 30 to Friday, April 7, between 6 pm and 11 pm, but John Jinapor, onetime Deputy Minister of Energy in the Mahama government, has questioned the decision, insisting there is no justification for the power generation shortfall as a result of maintenance works.
According to Mr Jinapor, if there is indeed an excess capacity as has been reported by the Akufo-Addo government in times past, then there ought not to be any power outages due to the Ghana Gas’ maintenance exercise.
His demand comes as the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), the electricity generation companies that control 50 per cent of the country’s generation mix, have called on the government to urgently settle its indebtedness to them.
The nine companies, said the ECG owed them the cedi equivalent of $1.4 billion as of last month.
The Yapei-Kusawgu MP, had insisted that the absence of the excess capacity, means Akufo-Addo government has not been forthright with information on the country’s power generation abilities.
In a Facebook post on Friday, March 31, the former Deputy Power Minister, asked the government to show concern and be truthful to Ghanaians at all times.
“Dumsor from loss of just 150mw? So where’s the so-called excess capacity of over 2000mw.”
There will be an interruption of power supply to some parts of the country beginning April 1, 2023, and will last for 14 days.
The Ghana Gas Company plans to shut down its Atuabo processing plant for thorough maintenance works.
The shutdown will affect the gas supply to some power plants.
Director of Communications at Ghana Gas, Ernest Owusu Bempah, confirmed the development and said the maintenance was necessary for maximum performance of the plant.
“The engineers thought it wise that we need to do some major maintenance hence the shutdown,” he stated.
The Independent Power Generators, Ghana (IPGG), formerly known as the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers, had told the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview that the government must pay up at least the overdue debt which constituted more than half of the indebtedness.
“If the ECG does not pay up part of the debt owed our members, they cannot guarantee continuous production of power for the next two weeks. The situation is so dire that something urgent must be done,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the IPGG, Dr Elikplim Apetorgbor, told the Daily Graphic in the interview last week.
He said the debt meant that the IPPs did not have working capital to finance inputs such as chemicals for treating water for the thermal generators, as well as other supplies, many of which were denominated in foreign currency, mostly the dollar.
Dr Apetorgbor, said the IPPs had always chosen the diplomatic way of resolving such bottlenecks and had, therefore, been quiet over the challenges over the years.
However, he said, the current situation was so dire that the IPPs’ only option would be to shut down operation until such time that the debt would be paid, an option they wish not to pursue.
The CEO said the IPGG owed banks, and that some had to make repayments this month but had to pay penalty for defaulting, saying the IPPs had been suffering on the quiet from the mounting debts.
“These penalties should be surcharged to the ECG, but we have decided to absorb them onto our books. However, for now the circumstances are not helpful.
“We are not telling the government to pay all; it can pay the overdue debt and negotiate a payment plan with our members,” Dr Apetorgbor said.
The Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) is a system created by the government to centralise revenue collection and ensure transparency in what has been collected and who is due what payment.
The system is also to ensure that the offtaker, the ECG, does not use its discretion in paying IPPs but each must have what it is owed.
Dr Apetorgbor said for some time now the Cash Waterfall system was not living up to expectation, as figures were not shared and payment not effected on schedule.
“We note that the CWM which was meant to bring transparency and fairness in the disbursement of the power sector revenue, unfortunately, has failed to deliver such transparency,” he said.
He said although the IPGG controlled a large chunk of power production in the country, its members were not represented on the CWM management committee, which was rather replete with representatives of state-owned power entities.
The CEO said the only information members received was bank credit alert, even though they were key stakeholders controlling over 50 per cent of the market share.
