Ghana risks another episode of irregular power supply as the Chamber of Independent Power Generators Ghana (IPGGs) says the failure of the government and state power distributor Electricity Company of Ghana to pay a $1.4 billion debt owed to them, is threatening their businesses.

In a letter signed by the Chairman of the IPGGs, Togbe Afede XIV, to the Ministry of Finance received on August 16, 2024, the power generators warned of dire consequences for the sector if the Finance Ministry failed to meet them over the matter at the earliest possible time.

“We respectfully, as a matter of urgency, demand an appointment to meet with you to discuss and resolve these critical issues. This meeting must occur at the earliest opportunity next week, as any further delay could be catastrophic for the nation’s power supply stability. We kindly request that you confirm your availability for this meeting at your soonest convenience,” the letter said.

“The current situation is extremely disappointing as the IPGs played a major role in working with the government to support its necessary restructuring of the country’s indebtedness in order to qualify for the IMF loans,” continued the letter.

It added: “Not only did many of the IPGs agree to a haircut on the arrears owed to them at the time; IPGs agreed to defer a significant portion of future payments to enable the government to recover under the IMF programme.”

The power producers further mentioned: “Despite the economic hardship this caused the IPGs, we agreed to this structure to ensure the IPGS would receive consistent payments to cover our operations and debt obligations.”

“We are hardly a year removed from shaking hands with this new arrangement and ECG is already materially in default to the amount of $1.4 billion. As you can imagine, we feel highly betrayed by the situation we find ourselves in today”, the Chamber indicated.

It warned: “We are in a dire strait as the government of Ghana and ECG have not fulfilled their end of the bargain. If the current situation continues, the IPGs will be left with no option but to exercise their rights under their respective contracts and to discontinue any unfulfilled negotiations. At this point, we cannot guarantee our cooperation moving forward, nor can we guarantee the continued reliable supply of electricity beyond August 30, 2024.”