The Ranking Member of Parliament’s Energy Committee, John Jinapor, has claimed that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) fails to allocate funds collected from Ghanaian consumers to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
According to him, ECG is burdened with a significant debt totaling $1.5 billion.
Mr Jinapor attributed this substantial debt to ECG’s failure to fulfill financial obligations to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and its inability to settle bills for purchased electricity in full.
Furthermore, Mr Jinapor criticized ECG for what he perceives as extravagant spending on items such as cables, malfunctioning meters, and unnecessary contracts.
Referring to a report from the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) that he reviewed, Mr Jinapor highlighted instances where ECG allegedly mishandled funds, diverting substantial amounts away from debt repayment towards other expenses.
During a media interview, Jinapor urged ECG to provide transparent explanations for recent power outages experienced by Ghanaians.
“ECG owes $1.5 billion, when they take the money from Ghanaians, they fail to pay the IPPs and use the funds to do whatever they want with it and they fail to pay the full price of the power they purchase and PURC has brought a report that when ECG comes in possession of a substantial amount of money they refuse to pay the debt they owe, they spend the money recklessly, and this is an official report from the PURC.
“Some of the things they buy, they don’t even need it, and now they want to be buying fuel, which is not even their core duty, all these are a reason the finances aren’t adding up,” he said.
tigpost.co