The Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES), Nana Amoasi VII has stated that constant power cuts popularly known as “Dumsor” is destabilizing the nation’s economy.
Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited has announced the closure of its 560MW power plant due to the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) failure to meet overdue payment obligations.
This has left Sunon Asogli unable to continue financing its operations.
In a statement released on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, the company disclosed that ECG owes a net receivable of $259 million (excluding fuel) as of the end of September this year.
Despite the company’s decision not to invoice ECG for idle capacity, the debt owed has increased by 23% between January and September this year, with only 22.6% of the invoices for that period settled through the Cash Waterfall Mechanism.
Commenting on the matter Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Nana Amoasi VII cited the effects of the temporary closure of the plant on Ghanaians.
“In the scheme of power supply, you cannot take out Asogli and expect power to be the same. Businesses require power in the services industry. In the absence of power, they are unable to serve well, unable to produce effectively, and are compelled to resort to other means of power generation or self-generation. When they struggle to get the power, it reduces productivity, it increases their cost of production as well, and impacts the ordinary consumer. At the end of the day, our GDP will suffer, the disposable income of Ghanaians will equally suffer and that will have a huge impact on the economy.”
The Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security further stated that Ghanaians should brace themselves for the worst as a rise in temperature leads to a rise in energy consumption as well.
“The load shedding of the system is increasing by the day since the weather is getting warmer.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Maureen Allandi
