Minority insists government still owes IPPs $500m and fuel suppliers over $200m

The Minority in Parliament is challenging government claims that Ghana’s power sector debts have been fully cleared, insisting that available financial data shows significant outstanding liabilities owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and fuel suppliers.

At a press conference held on Tuesday, the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, Collins Adomako-Mensah, stated that figures available to the Minority indicate that government still owes IPPs in excess of $500 million, while fuel supply companies are owed more than $200 million. He argued that these figures directly contradict official statements suggesting that the sector’s debts had been resolved.

“The Ministry of Finance announced last year that it had cleared all the debts to IPPs. The government also credited itself with financial improvement at ECG. However, the data available to us is that the government owes IPPs over $500 million and over $200 million to companies that supplied fuel for power generation,” he said.

The Minority is therefore calling for the Ministers for Energy and Finance to appear before Parliament to provide a full, transparent, and independently verified breakdown of the power sector’s financial position. They are also demanding detailed information on collections and expenditures under the energy sector recovery mechanism, popularly known as the “Dumsor levy.”

Mr. Adomako-Mensah emphasized the importance of accountability in the management of the levy, insisting that the public deserves clarity on how the funds have been used.

“If the levy has been collected but not properly applied, Ghanaians have the right to know. If it has been misappropriated, those responsible must be held accountable,” he said.

The Minority further announced plans to submit a Right to Information (RTI) request to access detailed records of the levy’s collection and expenditure since its introduction.

These concerns come amid renewed pressure on Ghana’s electricity supply system following recent disruptions. A fire at the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) Substation Switchyard in Akosombo on Thursday, April 23, 2026, led to a major reduction in national generation capacity, estimated between 720 megawatts and nearly 1,000 megawatts. The incident forced a temporary halt in electricity exports and triggered emergency restoration efforts.

Energy Minister John Jinapor later confirmed that two of the affected generating units had been restored, while engineers continued working to return the remaining units to full operation. A technical committee, chaired by Ing. William Amuna, has been established to investigate the cause of the fire, alongside a parallel security inquiry.

Even before the Akosombo incident, parts of Accra had already experienced scheduled power interruptions between April 8 and 17, 2026, as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) carried out maintenance and upgrades on transformers at substations including Adenta, La, Teshie-Nungua, and Lashibi.

The combination of planned maintenance outages and the Akosombo fire has heightened public anxiety about a possible return of widespread power disruptions, commonly referred to as “dumsor.”

The Minority maintains that it will continue pressing for full disclosure when Parliament reconvenes, stressing that transparency in the energy sector is essential to restoring public trust and ensuring stability in electricity supply.