The Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu, says government has cleared all of it debts to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), since the end of last year
He added that at the end of December 2016, Government of Ghana owed the ECG GH₵2.63 billion. All of this debt has however been cleared in the last four years.
He stated that government since 2017 has been consistent in paying all the legacy debts inherited in the power sector.
On the average, the Energy Minister explained, that government under President Akuffo-Addo, has paid two billion cedis annually to cover it’s bills with the Electricity Company of Ghana.
“Today, at the end of 2019, all government bills with Electricity Company of Ghana had been paid and government had a credit balance of GH₵500 million with ECG, he disclosed.
Again, with an average bill payment of about GH₵100 million per month, he further added, the credit balance of GH₵500 million is enough to pay for government’s bills to the ECG from January to April 2020.
Mr Amewu made these remarks while speaking at the Ministry of Information organized Covid-19 press briefing on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.
Additionally, the Minister further disclosed that an unreconciled additional payments GH₵4.14 billion has also been made to the various fuel suppliers of power users. Adding however, that the said expenditure is yet to be credited to government at the ongoing power debts reconciliation exercise.
He further added that government is committed to addressing the financial challenges to the energy sector.
Also, Mr Amewu disclosed further that the energy sector reform programmme, which was instituted few years ago, had been approved by cabinet at a meeting chaired by the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafa Marfo.
“I am happy to report that under the energy sector reform programme, we will continue to work towards a reliable, effective electricity company in this country”, he concluded.
By Salifu B.B. Moro
