Former Deputy Minister of Energy under the John Mahama administration John Jinapor has rebutted claims by the government that they have cleared all debts owed the Electricity Company of Ghana.
Mr. Peter Amewu, the Minister for Energy speaking at a press briefing organized by the Information Ministry said they paid GHS2 billion annually to cover all bills.
He also revealed that the government has a credit balance of GHS500 million to pay for electricity bills for January to April 2020.
This Mr Jinapor says is untrue because the government can't claim debts that the Ghana Water Company owed ECG as debts they owed.
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"I think as Ministers we ought to be factual and accurate and put out the right information. I have a document from ECG address to the Chairman of Parliamentary select committee of Mines and Energy dated April 10, 2018. It was signed by Engineer Boakye Appiah and the ECG liability was GHC542 million this was as at December 2016. So for Mr Amewu to make a claim that when he took office ECG was indebted to over GHC2 billion that is false and inaccurate, he should provide documents that prove that. The total liability of ECG as at the end of December 2019 was GHC14billion. So Mr Amewu's claims that he paid 2billion annually does not tally, Ghana Water Company Limited owed ECG so how can that be government's debt, that is not possible."
Mr Amewu speaking on the debt paid said: “In 2016 when the NDC left power, the total amount owed the ECG was GHS2.63 billion. The NPP government on assumption of office ensured that it was current on all bills incurred during its tenure from 2017 to date. Ladies and Gentlemen, on the average, government under H. E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has paid two million annually to cover its bill with the Electricity Company of Ghana. Indeed, at the end of 2019, all government bills with ECG had been paid and government had a credit balance of GHS500 million with ECG. Ladies and Gentlemen with an average bill payment of about GHS100 million per month, the credit balance of over GHS500 million is enough and more than enough to pay for government bills from January to April 2020.â€
Government announced that it will fully cover the bills of low-income consumers of electricity in the country for April, May and June 2020.
The remaining consumers who fall outside of this category will enjoy a 50 percent reduction in the cost of electricity for the same period.