A former deputy minister of power, John Jinapor, has described as false reports asserting that Ghana pays $500 million annually for excess power in the electricity sector.
A report according to US-based private media, Bloomberg, has revealed that currently Ghana pays as much as US$500 million per year for excess power it doesn’t consume.
Ghana is considering buying out the debts of independent power producers as a step toward restructuring contracts and reducing its power bill. Bloomberg reports
This payment, according to reports, arises from the take-or-pay contracts signed under the erstwhile NDC administration.
Responding to the assertion, John Jinapor in a statement said “this assertion is false and misleading. And the facts do not support the spurious claim.”
He noted that a cursory look at the 2019 report from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which is the sole off-taker to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in Ghana reveals without doubt that about 11,529.97GWH of electricity was procured out of a total projected dependable capacity of 3,424MW.
ALSO READ: DUMSOR: Ghana pays US$500 million every year for power it doesn’t use
“It is instructive to note that by accounting for the 25% required reserve margin which serves as insurance for the Nation, the claim of Excess Capacity becomes flawed,” he said.
The former deputy power minister stressed that the claim that payment of $500 million has been made as a result of a excess capacity is not only “erroneous but completely false.”
“If Ghana really has 2,000MW excess capacity for which we pay US$500 million, how come Ghanaians are being made to endure load shedding (dumsor) for the three weeks despite having excess capacity?” He quizzed.
frequent power cuts in parts of the country over the last six weeks is stirring fears that Ghana may be returning to the dreaded period of persistent, irregular, and unpredictable electric power outage – popularly called ‘dumsor’.
Over the last weeks, Accra and Kumasi have been hit the hardest by the unannounced intermittent power cuts.
