The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has resorted to changing its monthly payment plans to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to a weekly schedule.
This, according to the acting Managing Director of the Company, Ing. David Asamoah, will help them pay their accumulated debts which is mostly caused by the unstable forex market.
He has disclosed that the Sunon Asogli plant which shut down in October this year will resume operations in the coming weeks.
The assurance stems from the significant progress the Company has made in resolving its debt issues with the IPPs.
“Sunon Asogli has gone off because of debts. But the good news about Sunon Asogli is that they are going to be back in the coming weeks because we have almost resolved the issue that made them go off.
“We started paying them on a weekly basis, not monthly,” he said on Accra-based JoyNews Saturday, November 23, 2024.
The ECG owes the IPPs an outstanding US$259 million leading to the shut down of the Sunon Asogli power plant.
The power producing company said it could no longer continue operations due to the huge debts owed it by the government.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, had announced that the government has renegotiated an agreement with Sunon Asogli and is expected to resume operations to stabilise power supply in the country.
The renegotiation addresses the financial disagreements that caused the temporary shutdown.
On the back of this, Mr Asamoah reiterated ECG’s commitment to fulfilling its financial obligations, emphasizing the steps taken to demonstrate good faith.
“I have had that conversation with them and to show good faith, we have started paying to show that we are just not talking but we are acting to what we have agreed going forward,” he said.
He further noted that ECG began its payment schedule on October 8, 2024.
“We paid that week, then the following week, but because the payments were insufficient, they [Asogli] decided not to resume operations,” he explained.
