Energy think-tank ACEP has charged government to as a matter of urgency reopen negotiations with Nigeria gas to avert possible power outages.
The company last year cut supply to Ghana as government is indebted to the Nigerian gas supplier in excess of $180 million.
Ghana is currently enjoying some relative power supply giving the deployment of a number of emergency power plants after enduring almost four years of unstable power supply.
But speaking at a press conference Thursday, Deputy Executive Director of ACEP Ben Boakye said any delay in ensuring adequate gas supply for power generation could result in power outages by end of the second quarter.
“We need gas from Nigeria and as a matter of urgency, we have to set processes in motion to ensure that we can negotiate with Nigeria for the resumption of gas supply.
“There is some amount of gas coming in but if you have nine million standard cubic feet coming in, it is just not enough to do anything. So we want Nigeria to increase delivery of gas, that should be the first priority,” he said.
He further advice that in the future, restructuring of the debt situation of the utility company should be a priority, “because if Volta River Authority (VRA) cannot raise money to pay for light crude oil they procure then it is a critical challenge.”
Mr Boakye questioned how the VRA can look at investments when it is burdened with debt adding, “government should set in motion plans to clean the balance sheet of the utility company.”
This, he said is important as it is government’s poor decisions which have led to the utility companies into debt situation.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, through the Energy Sector Levy as Mr Boakye believes it would serve as a cushion to enable government to sell off the debt and use the levy to amortise it.
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