Benjamin Boakye, the Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), has said government’s outstanding debt with power producers in the energy sector could be more than what has been announced.
Reports indicate that government now owes power producers US$2.5 billion bequeathed by the immediate past Akufo-Addo government. This has created a challenge at the energy sector as some independent power producers shutdown their plants in December 2024.
Amid the debt, the outgone government could not leave enough fuel to power the plants, with Minister-designate for Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor, indicating the fuel stock could last only for some few hours.
But on TV3’s Ghana Tonight Thursday, January 09, 2025, Mr. Boakye said huge sums of debts are accrued in the energy chain on a daily basis, making the stated amount “a tip of the iceberg.”
He says the judgement debts and under recoveries are increasing the debt on a daily basis, making the reported amount an under representation of the real debt.
“We are told there are over US$2.5billion debt outstanding which is just a tip of the iceberg. The reality also is that, on a monthly basis, more debt are created because of the under recoveries in the sector.
“So, we are not looking at just the US$2.5b debt. In my estimation, it’s more than that if you look at the judgement debts. So, if you look at the books, it could be more than the US$2.5b debt,” he stated.
Boakye added that there are debts that are created on a daily and monthly basis that needs to be handled, adding that keeping the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should be the topmost priority of the Minister-designate.
He said if the debt accumulation is dealt with, “then you have the freedom to now think of how you address the outstanding debt. Other than that, we are going to struggle to handle the energy sector challenges.”
Meanwhile, he has advised the government not to hesitate to shed some load whilst measures are being adopted to resolve the energy crisis.
