We can’t keep our power plants on if payments are not consistent – IPPs

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor has indicated that the IPPs will only take on the threat of shutting down their plants only if promises made to them by the government are not fulfilled.

“It is not about the threat to shut down, it is about our ability to keep the plant running. Operating a power plant always requires a lot of money to keep the systems working. So if we lack the resource, it is practically impossible to keep the system on,” he explained.

Mr Apetorgbor said this in an interview with Nii Larte Lartey on Eyewitness News on Citi FM in Accra on Wednesday.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) settled debts to all IPPs for the months of June and July after earlier concerns expressed by the power generation companies.

The External Communications Manager for the ECG, Leila Abubakari also disclosed that the necessary measures had been put in place to ensure the arrears owed the IPPs are eventually cleared.

Mr Apetorgbor confirmed that the IPPs had received payment for August and had been assured by the ECG of consistent payment going on.

“We received an assurance from ECG. It is a continuous process. The arrangement is that going forward, all the current invoices will be settled substantially. That is to prevent future accumulations. That is what ECG is trying to do. We have an assurance that not much will be accumulated.”

“And what we are receiving now is minimum and our prayer is that it will be sustained and be improved upon. We have received for August so going forward September too we are expecting it,” he stated.

Concerning outstanding arrears, Mr Apetorgbor noted that the arrangements had been made to see to the settlement of those.

Meanwhile, he reiterated that the IPPs were still “opposed to anything called Debt restructuring. What we are open to is a payment plan. Frequency of payment is what matters to us.”