The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB) says it did not set any political agenda when it served notice of its intention to cut power following the over one billion dollar debt owed its members.

The government had accused the IPPs of creating unnecessary tension in the country by threatening to cut power if the over one billion dollar debt owed its members is not settled.

But a statement issued by the Chamber, signed by the Chief Executive Officer of CIPDiB, Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, said the pressure mounted on government to clear the debt is justified indicating the energy sector is currently on life support.

“The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB) have taken note of the reportage with the above headline carried on www.citinewsroom.com which, among other things, quotes the Honorable Deputy Minister of Energy, Hon. William Owuraku Aidoo, as accusing the Chamber of IPPs as exhibiting traits of a pressure group and creating unnecessary tension with threats to interrupt power supply. We wish to assure government and the public that we have no political motives for the timing of the communication that IPPs may be forced to shut down. This is based purely on commercial exigencies we currently face and not any political agenda,” the statement noted.

CIPDiB further noted, “On average, IPPs, since 2017, are paid just barely 40% of power invoices on a monthly basis which is not enough to sustain operations, especially when these low payments have persisted for so long. Members have had to resort to loans in order to keep their operations going but at the cost of crippling debt service obligations which have become unsustainable hence the demand for the prompt payment of overdue invoices to the tune of $1.44billion as at 30th September 2020.”

“The unpaid invoices owed IPPs is crippling the businesses of our members. It would interest the public to know that the Energy Sector debt to IPPs which was $124 million at the end of 2016 has ballooned ten-fold to $1,180 million as of 31st July 2020. Clearly, this is unsustainable and poses serious economic and financial risks to our members which is why we are being compelled to serve notice to Ghanaians about the possibility of a forced shutdown due to lack of funds to maintain our operations,” the statement added.

Below is the full statement

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