NPP government left behind GH¢70b energy sector debt – Mahama

The President John Mahama says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government left behind a staggering GH¢70 billion energy sector debt as at the end of December 2024.

Giving the State of the Nation address in Parliament yesterday February 27, 2025, President Mahama said, “despite collecting over GH¢45 billion in Energy Sector Levies (ESLA) over the last eight years, the outgone NPP administration has left the Ghanaian people an energy sector burdened with a staggering GH¢70 billion debt as of December 2024.”

He also said it is of deep concern that several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the energy sector are struggling to stay afloat. “Unless urgent interventions are made, many of them will go under,” he said.

The president indicated that financial distress in the energy sector remains a significant obstacle to delivering consistent and affordable electricity to Ghanaians and poses an existential threat to the economy in general.

He added that compounding these challenges, critical maintenance activities—such as the scheduled pigging of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAPCO)—were postponed from 2024 to 2025 without sufficient contingency measures for alternative fuel supply.

“As a result, my administration has had to swiftly mobilise resources to secure emergency fuel supplies, ensuring that electricity generation continues despite the difficult circumstances.

I have been informed that the pigging exercise will be completed in the first weeks of March. Once additional gas flows from Nigeria, we anticipate a marked improvement in the power situation,” he said.

The President indicating that the current state of the energy sector poses grave concerns, assured Ghanaians that his government remains resolute in its commitment to restoring stability.

“I have directed the Minister for Energy and Green Transitions to implement far-reaching reforms, including enforcing a single revenue collection account, strictly adhering to the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM), and eliminating wasteful expenditures.

The Minister, following my directive has set up an advisory committee to guide the participation of the private sector in metering and billing in order to improve efficiency in revenue collection and reduce the high commercial and technical losses that are threatening to drown the state-owned utility company,” he said.

He also said a pilot partnership between Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Enclave power has proved highly successful and provides a workable framework.

“ECG provides bulk supply of power to Enclave Power Limited. Enclave Power provides meters and bills all companies operating in the Free Zones Enclave with 99% revenue collection and nearly 100% uptime in power supply.

Reduction in commercial and technical losses will lead to affordable tariffs for everyone and bring relief to all users of electric power. We also aim in the medium term to achieve 100% gas utilisation for power production and eliminate the use of crude oil,” he said.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi

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