An estimated amount of US$13.2 billion is expected to be saved for the country as a result of six renegotiated Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has stated.
The Minister said this when he delivered a statement on the 2022 mid-year budget review on the floor of parliament on Monday according to provisions of section 28 of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, 2016, Act 921 and section 24 of Legislative Instrument (LI) 2378 of the Act..
According to him, the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government successfully renegotiated the agreements as promised to ensure balanced, sustainable and affordable energy to industries and households.
“Mr. Speaker, for balanced, sustainable energy partnerships that provide affordable power for industrial, commercial and residential use, we have kept our promise and successfully renegotiated Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with six Independent Power Producers (IPPs), namely, Karpower, Cenpower, Early Power, Twin City Energy (formerly Amandi), AKSA Energy and Cenit.
These renegotiated agreements are expected to have savings estimated at US$13.2 billion over the life of the PPAs through a combination of reduced capacity and energy charges.
In other words, we are saving the Ghanaian taxpayer US$13.2 billion from power contracts signed by the previous administration’’ the minister stated.
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Mr Ofori-Atta also assured Ghanaians of government determination to ensure constant supply of fuel through strategic reserves and other measures despite the inhibitions of global supplies of petroleum products as a result of the severe sanctions imposed on Russia.
“Mr. Speaker, the raft of sanctions imposed on Russia are tightening supply conditions for energy products. In response, Government is closely monitoring the stock of products at all depots. The timely intervention of the Bank of Ghana, through the Special Forex Auction mechanism, is also expected to sustain continuous supply of petroleum products in Ghana’’ he note.
The finance minister told the Ghanaian lawmakers that the completion of the Kasoa Bulk Supply Point project constitute major part of measures to improve transmission and reliability of power and to expand power to all especially businesses.
“Mr. Speaker, we have seen in this country the damage that disruptions in power supply causes to businesses, large and small, from factories to hairdresser salons.
As part of measures to improve transmission and reliability of power supply and expand energy to all Ghanaians, we have, between January to date: completed the Kasoa Bulk Supply Point (BSP) Project which comprises the re-construction of a section of GRIDCO’s 161kV Winneba-Mallam transmission lines and tie-in-works;
advanced the Volta-Achimota Lot of the 161KV Volta-Achimota-Mallam
Transmission Line Upgrade Project to 85 percent, from 83 percent, connected 58 communities to the national grid as at end June 2022 with several communities at various stages of completion; and commissioned the Solar Irrigation Project at the Ho Technical University on 18th
March, 2022 to promote renewable energy systems’’, Mr Ofori-Atta indicated.
