The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has pleaded with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to consider introducing a line item for foreign exchange (forex) losses in the total revenue requirement it approves.
According to the power distribution company, forex losses have become a significant financial burden for them.
“Forex losses have become material financial losses to ECG. The position of ECG is that the issue of forex losses has not been consistently addressed by the PURC, by including it in tariffs approved by the Commission for ECG. It is the view of ECG that, a permanent solution to resolving the issue of forex losses is implemented in the form of introduction of a line item for forex losses in the total revenue requirement approved for ECG by the Commission,” the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Mr Samuel Dubik Mahama wrote in a letter addressed to the Executive Secretary of the PURC dated March 27, 2024.
He said, “This way, the issue of debt accumulation in the sector especially from ECG’s end, would be eliminated.”
The letter was in response to an order by the PURC for it to pay all tariff revenues as prescribed and allocated under the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) to secure the financial integrity of the sector.
The ECG MD further wrote, “Some challenges with the implementation of the CWM were tabled by ECG and accepted by the CWM Implementation Committee on 26th March 2024. Consequently, ECG is complying fully with the CWM approved model going forward.”
The ECG MD detailed some of the issues they raised to the Implementation Committee Members as follows:
a) Treatment of Early Power as Tier 1 Beneficiary
The inclusion of Early Power in Tier 1 Payments is based on the fact that ECG has a Take or Pay PPA with Early Power. In addition, Early Power generated GWh77.7 of electricity valued at USS5million for December 2023 and January 2024 which bill is due for payment hence demand notice served on ECG to that effect. The position of ECG is that, as has been done for all other IPPs, the same treatment should be accorded Early Power to avoid accumulation of debt.
b) Treatment of WAPCo
The inclusion of WAPCo in Tier 1 Payments is based on two directives issued by the Minister of Energy. First, WAPCo should be included in Tier 1 Payments Second. Payments to WAPCo should be made in US Dollars and directly to WAPCo. The account details of WAPCo which is now with ECG is a US Dollar Account.
c) Loan Repayment for Bui Power Authority and Ghana National Gas Company Limited
To recall, loans were contracted by Bui Power Authority and Ghana National Gas Company Limited to address pressing financial challenges both companies were facing. By an agreement between ECG and the two Institutions, these loans were novated to ECG for payment of both Principal and Interest as and when due. The total amount contracted by the two Institutions is GHS250 million (Bui Power Authority GHS150million and Ghana Gas Ghana Limited GHS100million respectively). “
Mr Mahama further explained that, “In executing the terms of the loan agreement, ECG has since been making payments as and when due, which fact can be verified from the beneficiaries. It is therefore prudent to address the issue of the repayment of the loan as part of the CWM payments so as to avoid placing ECG in a precarious financial position, failure to address these issues is very much likely to result in accumulation of debt, since ECG has no other source of revenue generation to pay both the principal and the interest.”
