Former Deputy Minister of Energy and current National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei Kusawgu John Jinapor affectionately called JJ has refuted publications to the effect that the Government of Ghana pays some US$ 500 million yearly for electricity it does not use due to excess capacity, insisting that if the country fulfills the 25% reserve margin required of every country, the argument on excess capacity unduly costing the country is unsustainable.
“My attention has been drawn to an online publication from Bloomberg which makes the false claim that Ghana pays US$500 million per annum for Excess Capacity in the electricity sector. It’s further claimed that this payment arises from take-or-pay contracts signed under the NDC administration.
This assertion is false and misleading. And the facts do not support the spurious claim.
A cursory look at the 2019 report from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which is the sole off-taker to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in Ghana reveals without doubt that about eleven thousand and five hundred gigawatt hours (11,529.97GWH) of electricity was procured out of a total projected dependable capacity of Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty Four Megawatts (3,424MW).
It is instructive to note that by accounting for the 25% required reserve margin which serves as insurance for the Nation, the claim of Excess Capacity becomes flawed,” he explained.
Bloomberg had reported that Ghana, “West Africa’s second-biggest economy currently pays as much as US$500 million per year for power it doesn’t consume and is in talks to end the practice.
Deals that obliged the government to pay for power regardless of whether or not the supplies were needed, have left the country with almost double the generation capacity it requires to meet peak demand of 2,700 megawatts.
The government wants to take over the companies’ loans from financial institutions through the state-owned Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund at less onerous repayment terms, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.”
But Mr Jinapor insists that the assertion is false. He concludes in his rebuttal: “This assertion is false and misleading. And the facts do not support the spurious claim, adding that “If Ghana really has 2,000MW excess capacity for which we pay US$500 million, how come Ghanaians are being made to endure load shedding (dumsor) for the 3 weeks despite having excess capacity?”
Source: mynewsgh.com
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