By Iddi Yire/Else Appiah-Osei
Accra, June 14, GNA – Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy, has reiterated the Government’s commitment to addressing Ghana’s energy challenges.
“The Nana Akufo-Addo-led Government is aware of the critical role the Energy Sector plays in the economy of Ghana and is focused on addressing the challenges.” Mr Atta Akyea stated on Wednesday at a news conference organized by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Majority Members on the Mines and Energy Committee at Parliament House in Accra.
It was in reaction to an earlier one by Mr John Abu Jinapor, the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee.
The Chairman noted that the Government would therefore not yield to distractions from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It would be recalled that the opposition NDC Parliamentary Minority on the Mines and Energy held a news conference in Parliament House on 6th June, in response to comments made by Mr Pierre Laporte, the World Bank Country Director to Ghana on Ghana’s Energy Sector.
In addition, the Minority touched on the Comparative Analysis of Electricity Tariffs in ECOWAS Member States.
On the issue relating to tariffs in ECOWAS Member States, Mr Atta Akyea in his response noted that a study under reference was conducted in 2017 and published in 2019 and most of the countries in the study were hydro dependent.
He said over the past six years thermal generation had taken over hydro generation in Ghana; stating that “thermal generation therefore is expensive due to (the) cost of fuel and exchange rate dynamics”.
He said these coupled with idle capacity had made Ghana’s tariff one of the highest in the region.
Mr Atta Akyea referred to the Ghana Integrated Power Sector Master Plan (IPSMP), which was a work by the Energy Commission and various Ghana energy agencies, which was supported by the Integrated Resource and Resilience Planning (IRRP) Project, with technical and financial support for the IRRP project provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
He said under generation and demand of the 2019 IPSMP, the modelling results confirmed that there was significant overcapacity in Ghana, that this overcapacity was expected to continue for five-seven years when the power plants under construction were commissioned.
He said the report noted that the reserve margin in 2018 and 2019 were significantly higher than the planned reserve margin of 20 per cent.
He said the overcapacity challenge was expected to continue into the mid-2020s; adding that the issue therefore about excess capacity was not in doubt, as established by the 370MW AKSA EPA.
“We note that the AKSA Emergency Power Agreement (EPA) after expiration on 31″ July 2022 was renegotiated by ECG with better terms for 15 years, with a dispatch guarantee of 40 per cent,” he said.
“This is far better than the full take-or-pay arrangement under the expired EPA.”
Mr Atta Akyea said: “There is no Government that will not inherit trouble, the take or pay is an inherited trouble, no dispute about it, it is not the making of President Akufo-Addo. And he has kept the lights on.”
“You know that there are a lot of threats, if you don’t pay, we go back to dumsor and the rest of it, I think the President is accurately aware of the full economic consequences of going back to the dumsor days, because even the economy is going through a lot of challenges, he wouldn’t add power challenges to what we are going through.”
He underscored that the Government was committed to resolving Ghana’s energy challenges; declaring that “….You solve the problems you inherit, as well as some of the benefits you inherit as well.”
He said the Public Private Partnership (PPA) renegotiation exercise was also underway to downsize invoices raised for payment by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
“We are not out of the doldrums yet, we are still romancing these power producers to come to terms with the new reality, the Government is negotiating that strongly.
Currently, the renegotiation has led to a significant reduction in invoices from AKSA, and the CENIT plants,” he said.
Mr Atta Akyea said renegotiation with Cenpower, Amandi, Karpower and Sunon Asogli would soon close with significant benefits to the people of Ghana.
GNA