The government has paid $10 million to the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) to cover part of the state’s indebtedness to the company to avert a possible power crisis and a load shedding exercise.

Deputy Minister of Energy, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, has confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the government owed WAPCo $19.3 million.

The $10 million payment to WAPCo brings government’s payment to the company to $13 million after the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) had earlier redeemed $3 million of the debt.

It leaves the government with an outstanding $6.3 million to clear with the gas pipeline company at this point.
Government’s intervention comes in the wake of recent extensive power outages across the country, with fears expressed widely among the population that a load shedding exercise could be on the cards.

The Ministry of Energy has explained that the power outages had come about because WAPCo cut gas supply to Ghana due to the outstanding debts.

But the deputy minister said that had been resolved as of last Wednesday, with supply now restored.

He said arrangements were in place for the GNPC to pay WAPCo the invoice for December by Monday, January 15, while the ministry, after engaging WAPCo, had made arrangements to ensure that invoices were not accumulated going forward.

WAPCo, he said, had threatened to cut supply on January 2, 2024, if payment was not made, but the ministry got the company to extend it to January 5, 2024.

Mr Mercer said there were no planned or scheduled power outages in Ghana, and that he was not sure that the entire load which was shed was up to one-third of total generation as had been alleged by some members of the Minority in Parliament.

“Dumsor is a protracted power outage of electricity over a long period of time. Under the current government, we have never had dumsor. Dumsor is not back, and it is not going to come back. We are ensuring the power is on,” he said.

Minority’s fears

A Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, John Jinapor, had suggested that a load shedding exercise could be imminent, but that the situation could be averted if the government fulfilled its financial obligation to the relevant companies.

In a facebook post, he wrote: “It is sad to note that the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) which was instituted to prevent the growth of the sector-wide indebtedness and ensure equitable distribution of revenues has been hijacked by the Ministry of Finance leading to serious challenges in the Energy sector. The sad news is that Ghanians will continue to sleep in darkness unless the government intervenes once more”.

He claimed that load shedding, popularly known as “dumsor”, was back as the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had shed 500 megawatts of power arising from the inability of Ghana to pay for gas consumed from WAPCo, leading to another shutdown of the pipeline.

Graphic.com.gh