Power Supply to all state institutions indebted to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will soon be cut off to enable the company raise revenue to finance other power generation projects across the country.
This is in line with government’s new policy that will compel state institutions to pay for the amount of power they consume in their operations.
Deputy Minister of Power, John Jinapor who disclosed this stressed that all heavy consumers of electricity, including hotels, night clubs, government ministries, and agencies who are indebted to the ECG would be disconnected to inject some level of sanity into the system.
He abhorred the practice where state institutions refuse to pay for the power they consume and said “it is important for all institutions to budget for the power they consume as directed by the Ministry of Finance”.
Checks by the Business Day have revealed that, most MMDAs do not pay for the power they consume, leaving a heavy debt on governments’ shoulders to settle.
This has resulted in the ECG’s indebtedness to the Volta River Authority (VRA), running into several Millions of Ghana cedis— a situation that has affected efficient operational capacity of the company for many years.
Ghana until recently was plagued with unbearable load shedding exercise which has affected several businesses and households due to inadequate generational capacity, hence governments resolve to find a lasting solution to the nation’s energy requirement.
The power cut of companies who owe ECG, especially government agencies, according some energy experts is long overdue since it will enable the company raise the necessary capital to pay off its debts and inject some into other measures such as effective metering systems and workable monitoring management practices.
However, some analysts are doubtful government will be able to exercise the political will to cut power supply to institutions that drive its policies and programs.
This is against the back drop that budgetary allocations to state agencies delay and are sometimes reduced far below their expectations.
By CHRISTIAN KPESESE
