A reliable government source has confirmed that there will be no shutdown of power plants following the deadline set for Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The government source reiterated the commitment to maintaining a stable power supply to meet the energy needs of the nation, even as negotiations with the IPPs continue.

A highly placed source close to the government has given the assurance that there will be no power outages as a result of power plants being shutdown by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) by the end of June 2023 contrary to such speculations in the media.

This comes on the back of threats from the Chamber of IPPs that members will shut down their plants if the government fails to clear debts owed them.

According to the Chamber, the government owes members more than $1.4 billion out of a total of $ 2 billion in energy sector debt, which makes it difficult to keep their plants on.

They have asked the government to pay thirty percent of the debt owed members or risk a shutdown of plants indefinitely after June 30. This threat was due to the government’s failure to commence payment negotiations with the IPPs.

A couple of weeks ago, Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama said his outfit is leading talks with the Independent Power Producers to avoid a possible shutdown of the power plants. JoyNews source closes to the presidency has confirmed that indeed the talks have started, and already yielding the desired results.

“ECG has reached an agreement with at least Aksa power generation and Karpower. They won’t shut down their plants. ECG is making progress with the remaining Independent Power Producers and it will be difficult to foresee a power plant shutdown after the expiration of their June 30 deadline. In fact, there won’t be any shutdown by the end of June”, the source said.

Capacity charges

The source also revealed that the negotiation currently being undertaken by the ECG is corroborating the government’s position that capacity charges are largely to blame for a chunk of the debt in Ghana’s energy sector.

“After the negotiation with Karpower for example, out of the $320 million that ECG owed them, it is only 40% that is as a result of energy consumed. The rest is for capacity charges”, the source noted.