Ghanaians are likely to experience yet another power crisis in the coming days if the government does not reach an agreement with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to pay an outstanding debt payment of $1.73 billion.
The development comes after the government and the IPPs have not been able to reach a settlement to pay the debt obligation owed to the IPPs. Ahead of a meeting with the Finance Minister, the IPPs told government to provide a 30 percent interim payment of the debt.
Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors, and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB), Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor speaking on Accra-based Citi FM said further delays in the debt payment could result in a severe power crisis.
He argued that the payment is necessary else power producers will fail to deliver power generation needs to the national grid beyond June 30, 2023.
“Basically, we are saying that we lack the resources to continue generation beyond 30th June and we are giving them [Finance Ministry] up to March. We didn’t hear from them but the fact is beyond June we just don’t have the resource to continue to supply,” he is quoted to have by citinewsroom.com
“All the IPPs are operating on borrowed funds and the critical part is our ability to pay our debt. The second quarter is about to end, so the six of us have no resources to continue to supply, so we are not going beyond June 30th,” Elikplim Apetorgbor stressed.
Touching on talks by government and IPPs to restructure the debt payment IPPs Chamber CEO said it has rejected any form of debt restructuring as they cannot explain such a move to their lenders.
“We have sacrificed a lot for the economy, the debt in question is already debt we have borrowed from our lenders and we can’t explain to them that we can’t pay because Ghana’s economy is in shambles, they won’t listen.”
In Ghana’s energy sector, the Independent Power Producers play a pivotal role in providing power generation for distribution. They have a controlling stake of 47 percent of the country’s total power generation mix.
Source: ghanaweb.com
