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The astounding $1.5 billion in debt owed by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has been revealed by John Jinapor, the ranking member of the Parliamentary Energy Committee.
Mr. Jinapor largely blames ECG for this large debt for the company’s inability to pay its bills in full for power that it has acquired and for its failure to meet its financial responsibilities to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
Mr. Jinapor is critical of ECG, saying that it should not have spent so much money on things like wires, broken meters, and needless contracts.
Citing a Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) study, Mr. Jinapor highlights examples of purported financial mismanagement by ECG, asserting that substantial amounts were redirected from debt payments to other expenses.
In a press conference, Mr. Jinapor urged ECG to give clear justifications for the most recent blackouts that Ghanaians have been going through.
“ECG owes $1.5 billion, when they take the money from Ghanaians, they fail to pay the IPPs and use the funds to do whatever they want with it and they fail to pay the full price of the power they purchase and PURC has brought a report that when ECG comes in possession of a substantial amount of money they refuse to pay the debt they owe, they spend the money recklessly, and this is an official report from the PURC,” Mr Jinapor stated.
Despite recent power outages, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) maintains that there is no “Dumsor” in the nation. Therefore, a load-shedding timetable as requested by the public is not necessary.
In Ghana, an ongoing, erratic, and unpredictable power outage is referred to as a “dumsor.”
Tuesday, March 12, 2024, External Communications Manager of ECG, Laila Abubakar, stated that the country’s current power outages do not require the implementation of a load-shedding timetable in a radio interview on Citi FM in Accra.
She says there could be more reasons for the recent power outages.
“The thing is, we just want people to be aware that when your power goes off, it is not always a matter of load shedding.
“There are several issues and there are some of them that fall at the doorsteps of ECG. We are doing as much as possible to solve the ones that we can.
“There aren’t any issues with shedding load. The load shed, I think is what people understand by ‘Dumsor’. But usually, when someone asks me if, there is Dumsor, I ask them what do you understand and what do you think ‘Dumsor’ means. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be a timetable”, she said.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
