John Peter Amewu
FORMER ENERGY Minister, John Peter Amewu, has indicated that government has paid all its debts owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Mr. Amewu made this known on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, during his vetting in Parliament as Minister-designate for Railways Development.
Answering questions from lawmakers about his handling of the electricity subsector and ECG debts, he stated that “I want to use this opportunity to announce to Ghanaians that the Government of Ghana has fully paid its debts owed ECG.”
He added that “All debts that Ghana owes, including the debts of municipal, metropolitan and district assemblies and ministries have been fully paid by the Ministry of Finance.”
In May last year, Mr. Amewu also announced that government had cleared all of it debts to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), since the end of the previous year.
He added that at the end of December 2016, Government of Ghana owed the ECG GH₵2.63 billion.
He stated that government since 2017 had been consistent in paying all the legacy debts inherited in the power sector.
On the average, the Energy Minister explained that government under President Akuffo-Addo had paid two billion cedis annually to cover its bills with the ECG.
At the end of 2019, all government bills with ECG were paid and government had a credit balance of GH₵500 million with ECG, he disclosed.
Again, with an average bill payment of about GH₵100 million per month, he further added, the credit balance of GH₵500 million was enough to pay for government’s bills to the ECG from January to April 2020.
Mr. Amewu was speaking at the Ministry of Information’s organized Covid-19 press briefing.
Also, he disclosed that unreconciled additional payments of GH₵4.14 billion had also been made to the various fuel suppliers of power users. Adding that the said expenditure was yet to be credited to government at the ongoing power debts reconciliation exercise.
He further added that government was committed to addressing the financial challenges of the energy sector.
The post Govt Clears ECG Debt appeared first on DailyGuide Network.
