All Ministries, Departments and Agencies will pay their electricity bills – Energy Minister

Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that owe the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will face a crackdown, according to Energy Minister John Jinapor, who also warned that nonpayment could result in their disconnection.

The Ghana Water Company Limited has been singled out for not making any payments at all for the last seven months, according to Mr. Jinapor, who was speaking to members of the Parliamentary Energy Committee.

“Yesterday [Wednesday], I was listening to a news item where Ghana Water made a complaint that, because of some erratic power situation, they are unable to supply adequately. I empathies with them. And I think that what we’ve inherited, we should improve it. But the other note is that Ghana Water hasn’t paid even one cedi for seven months,” he said.

The Minister emphasized that in order to stabilize the power industry, ECG must collect the money owed.

“If you don’t pay one cedi for seven months and it adds up to one billion, the power sector will not be stable. The private sector or ordinary citizens alone cannot be called upon to shoulder the burden. The water is produced, and the water is sold. ECG must collect the money. And as minister, I will insist that ECG should collect the money.

“The taxpayers’ money should not be used to subsidise ECG’s inability to collect the money. Ghana Water must collect its money. It sells the water. I consume water, I pay for it. I consume electricity, I pay for it. This is the only way we can bring about efficiency and turn the sector around,” he said.

He clarified that only a small number of necessary services will be exempt from disconnection, and even then, only for critical activities, according to criteria authorized by the Cabinet.

“Cabinet has also adopted a position, and we’ll brief you, chairman. All MMDAs are supposed to pay for their electricity bills. They have to budget for it. We’ve identified what we call critical institutions. They include the health sector, the education sector, the security agencies and the presidency. So if you take the health sector, it’s the theatres, the laboratories, the wards, that will be exempted.

If you take the education institutions, dormitories are not part, restaurants are not part, only lecture theaters, and so we’ve classified that. And cabinet is granting approval and will publish that. Even what we term as critical institutions, the Minister of Finance will have to budget for it and pay,” Mr Jinapor clarified.

The Minister shared insights from his recent engagements at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), where Ghana attracted interest from major oil players.

“In the petroleum sector, I was with some of your colleagues at OTC. We had a very good time. We met Exxon. They’ve expressed interest in coming back. We met other companies. They’ve all expressed interest. Cosmos and the Jubilee Partners have indicated that they want to spend two billion in the sector. Eni has also indicated that they want to spend about two billion in the sector,” he stated.

According to Mr. Jinapor, the government is attempting to improve the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act in order to attract more investors to the industry.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com