The GBC is said to owe the power company about GHc 1.75 million.

[contextly_sidebar id=”lsztduc5gDJPwlYFfdw0s7OCZLolZEhL”]A letter sighted by Citi News in August 2017, indicates that the Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, had written to the Minister of Energy to hold on with the intended disconnection exercise at the facility.

A portion of the letter said, “disconnecting power to their transmitters, especially those that serve rural communities means cutting off a section of the Ghanaian population from national discourse.”

“We entreat you to use your good offices to get ECG to stop these disconnections, while we (Ministry of Energy, GBC, NMC and the Ministry of Information) meet to find a solution to GBC’s indebtedness to ECG,” the letter.

But it appears the subsequent discussions were unable to prevent Thursday’s disconnection.

The Ashanti Regional Director of the GBC, Sam Kwatia, is now threatening a legal action against three workers of the ECG over what he called unlawful entry to the premises which enabled them to disconnect the power.

An altercation ensued between the ECG workers and staff GBC, after they disconnected power to the facility.

The GBC workers had blocked a pick-up vehicle the ECG workers brought in to carry out the disconnection exercise.

Workers of GBC who were unhappy with the disconnection exercise angrily confronted the ECG workers.

Police from the Asokwa District Command were later called in to maintain order.

Public Relations Officer of ECG in the Ashanti Region, Erasmus Baidoo, said several efforts had been made to retrieve the money amicably, but to no avail, lamenting that the amount was ballooning, and that they needed to act as its been done with other power consumers.

He expressed disappointment in the Regional GBC Director who supervised the deflation of the tyres of ECG’s car which entered the premises to cause the disconnection.

There have been concerns about government’s continuous support to the state broadcaster, with critics insisting that GBC should be self-sufficient by generating its revenue to run and pay its staff without relying on government subvention.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ashanti GBC disconnected by ECG over GHc 1.7m debt appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Addressing the media today [Tuesday], Chairman of the Senior Staff of VRA, Cephas Duse said the current challenges faced by the state power producer is as a result of bad deals with independent power producers, which has been allowed by successive governments.

[contextly_sidebar id=”DiXoqbfHldQGnOnX4I51tiEEw0qEXTm3″]”For example, we buy power from AMERI at 15 cents and we sell to ECG at 5 cents,” he noted, adding that this is done in the interest of the nation because the government says they cannot sell the power to Ghanaians at 15 cents.

“…As a result of its [Government’s] bad arrangement with AMERI for example, VRA has incurred an avoidable loss of $218 million within the first 18 months, from January 2016 to July 2017. On the average, VRA incurs a loss of $11.5 million and this arrangement is supposed to be with us for five years.”

VRA also reportedly owes the banks to the tune of GHc 4.4 billion.

Despite these challenges, Mr. Duse said the Authority was doing its best to live up to its mandate of providing the people of Ghana with affordable power.

“I urge those in the Ministry of Energy and Finance Ministry to stop micro-managing VRA and allow the governance structures to work… What VRA needs at this material moment is a board and the debts in the power sector cleared to make VRA’s books look good,” he said.

Stop the sale of thermal plants or face our anger – VRA Senior staff

These workers are joining the Senior Staff of the VRA and the VRA’s division of Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), who have petitioned government, asking for the withdrawal of the public advertisement seeking to engage the services of a Transaction Adviser, to sell specified thermal plants of the company.

The workers in a resolution reached at the end of a meeting on August 25, 2017, forwarded their demands to the Ministers of Energy, Employment and Labour Relations, Finance and the National Security Minister.

They gave government 14-days to meet their demands or risk an industrial action.

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By: Anas Seidu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Selling thermal plants won’t solve VRA’s problems – Staff appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Albert Kwesi Quainoo, its Head of Public Relations, said access routes used by the company’s technicians to carry out checks on high tension cables and power towers had been completely wrecked by the miners.

This, he added, was making it difficult to get closer to the cables to determine the condition and to assess if there was any rust of the pylons.

[contextly_sidebar id=”I0oRJyIHB5LXrWKTgzOHeXMLExMWzuiC”]He cited instances where the miners had mined so close to the pylons carrying the power distribution cables that these could collapse unexpectedly and plunge large parts of the country into darkness.

Mr. Quainoo was speaking at a town hall meeting organized jointly by the Media Coalition Against Galamsey and National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) at Kyebi.

He labeled the situation as a serious national problem and said this was not only affecting the operation of GRIDCo, but water supply, the health service and other economic activities.

He indicated that the company had engaged the military to survey the encroached areas to ascertain the extent of the destruction, how to restore the areas and to gain access to the transmission towers.

The Deputy Minister of Information, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah Agyei, rallied the people to come together to protect the environment – forest and river bodies.

She asked that everybody found space to contribute to the fight to stop the illegal mining and said it was in the interest of all to ensure that mining was done in a more sustainable manner.

She hinted of government’s plans to introduce social interventions to help the illegal miners to give up on the activity.

The Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey, said the coalition would continue to push ahead with the fight to stop illegal mining.

It was eager to see an end to the pollution of water bodies and to make sure the destroyed lands were reclaimed.

Mr. Ashigbey urged the people to be bold to name and shame powerful personalities behind the illicit mining.

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Source: GNA

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The company won the judgment against government in 2013 at the International Court of Arbitration.

In 2007, government entered a 20-year lease agreement with the company, Balkan Energy Ghana, to refurbish and operate the Osagyefo power barge.

The company was expected to initially operate the facility with diesel fuel and later switch to gas to be delivered by the West African Gas Pipeline.

Also they were expected to increase the generation capacity of the barge by 60 Megawatts and to begin operations in 90 days after the signing of the agreement.

But government through the Supreme Court annulled the agreement because it was not approved by Parliament among other reasons.

Balkan Energy proceeded to the International Court of Arbitration for wrongful termination of contract and was awarded a judgment debt of twelve million dollars.

The company currently has sued government in a South African court ,claiming damages for nonpayment of the judgment debt.

But a source close to the situation told Citi News that the government has written to the company indicating its decision to pay its debt without interest.

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By; Franklin Badu Jnr/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Balkan Energy case: Gov’t pushes for out of court settlement  appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He was speaking at the first Bidders’ Conference on the concession for the Private Sector Participation (PSP) in the electricity distribution business of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

[contextly_sidebar id=”0L5cLASKd6KZEAHOIhOaQ3lt6WgVFXW3″]The Bidders’ Conference is to facilitate interaction between the shortlisted applicants for the ECG Concession and potential local and international investors.

He reminded the power sector remained central to the development agenda of the government and “key to unlocking the development potential of Ghana.”

But the Energy Minister lamented that “years of inadequate investment, inefficiencies within the utility, and a large stock of outstanding receivables, particularly in the distribution sector, have all conspired to weaken the organisations in the sector to what they are today. As a nation, we should set our sights firmly on turning around the fortunes of this strategic sector which so many of us have poured our sweat into building.”

Highlighting the negative impacts of the power crisis, Mr. Agyarko noted that the power crisis, per the 2013 World Bank Energising Economic Growth in Ghana report, the 2006-07 power crisis cost Ghana nearly 1 percent in lost GDP.

Also, the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), in its 2014 study on the economy indicated that Ghana lost production worth $2.1 million per day during the crisis.

Mr. Agyarko further noted the impact of the power crisis on unemployment figures.

“For the government, even more critical is the resulting loss of jobs that was precipitated by the unreliable power to business. Recognising this fact, President Nana Akufo-Addo, during the 2017 State of the Nation Address, warned that if left unaddressed, the challenges in the energy sector would collapse the Ghanaian economy.”

About the ECG PSP Transaction

The Government of Ghana signed the Ghana Power Compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States government foreign aid agency, on August 5, 2014.

The Ghana Power Compact provides Ghana a grant of US$498,200,000 to improve the performance of Ghana’s power sector to unlock the country’s economic potential, create jobs, and reduce poverty.

The Government of Ghana is committing at least US$37.4 million of its own money.

The main project under the Ghana Power Compact is the ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, which is designed to transform ECG into an efficient and financially strong institution through private sector participation (PSP). About US$351 million of the MCC grant is being invested in ECG.

The project seeks to bring about private sector participation in investments into, as well as the management and operation of, the ECG through a concession arrangement.

Under the concession, a private partner will invest in ECG and improve its operations to reduce commercial and technical losses, reduce the frequency and duration of outages, introduce new equipment and technology, and reduce the vulnerability of the distribution system to theft and meter manipulation.

The Compact is being implemented by the Government of Ghana through the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA). 

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We need power to turn economy around – Agyarko appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Minister at the National Policy Summit on Tuesday said though the Mahama administration failed to ensure competitive bidding in awarding power contracts, the NPP administration will take an entirely different approach to ensure value for money.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ONsUEG71BkzIo9gc8d7kIgURw7Icf7Ub”]“We know what happened when we went into the power crisis from 2012 and in the indecent haste that followed, we were procuring emergency power left, right and centre and therefore the guidelines or the proper shopping methodologies that ought to have followed were not. These things are best done on competitive tender.

“We had an open book in terms of the power purchase agreement so the supplier then came and said we will negotiate this price and PURC gave it a blessing and so for the same commodity; electricity, one producer is selling to us at 10.14 cents a kilowatt tab, another is selling at 19 cents a kilowatt tab, some are proposing 22 cents a kilowatt tab for the same commodity, electricity. In our emergency, our first respondents gave us anything and we had to take it that is why going forward all power will be procured on competitive basis…”

The Minister also revealed that power generators will be required to carry their own “fuel risk” and reduce the price at which government purchases power.

“We propose that power generators carry their own fuel risk. We also propose that we cap the price at which we will buy power from anybody. We are looking at 10 cents. If you can provide ten cents we buy from you. If not sorry. Electricity is a commodity and it has to be treated as a commodity.”

The Mahama administration has come under intense criticism for securing power deals believed not to be in the best interest of the country.

The NPP administration in a bid to ensure value for money tasked a 17-member committee to review of one of those projects, Ameri power deal.

Future power deals will be strategised

The Minister, at the same event, indicated that government will strategise future power deals.

He argued that most of the agreements with Independent Power Producers failed to fully address the energy needs of the country.

He therefore pledged to employ some strategic policies to guarantee the efficient generation and distribution of power across the country.

“We will also use standardized procedures and documentation so that all the liquidity and security documentation that comes with power procurement will be standardized. Investor A faces the same standard document as investor B,” the Minister added.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post We’ll procure power on competitive basis – Boakye Agyarko appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He argues that most of the agreements with Independent Power Producers failed to fully address the energy needs of the country and has pledged to employ some strategic policies to guarantee the efficient generation and efficient distribution of power across the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ab5iMzGoxiJe5zopmSzAhf2gcYKbwtoa”]“Often times I have maintained and this is a personal view that the Energy Sector has been deal-driven instead of strategy-driven and therefore we do not approach the sector with a comprehensiveness that is required,”  the Minister said at the National Policy Summit in Accra today [Tuesday].

He indicated that the concentration of power generation in the East; Tema enclave to the neglect of other parts of the country has created what he calls a “load imbalance”.

“Let me give you an example. All the major loads in the country in terms of power generation is concentrated in the East; Tema enclave. There is very little in the Aboadze and there is absolutely nothing in the middle of the country; that in itself creates a load imbalance for GRIDCo ..Because we were driven by the deals we could get, there was no plan to distribute the load around the country. That is my personal view as I have observed it. Even now people prefer to build power plants around the over crowded enclave of Tema.”

Proffering suggestions to these challenges, the Minister emphasized the need to make power sector a strategy driven place where business men find their deals so power will be “competitively procured.”

“We will also use standardized procedures and documentation so that all the liquidity and security documentation that comes with power procurement will be standardized. Investor A faces the same standard document as investor B,” the Minister added.

Government had earlier argued that some of the power agreements including Ameri and Karpower, that the Mahama government entered into were bloated.

Government in a bid to ensure value for money set up a 17 member committee under the Energy Ministry to review the Ameri power deal which was believed to have been bloated by $150 million.

The 17-member committee was also constituted on grounds of other financial, technical and legal issues, and insisted that AMERI must be made to re-negotiate the deal or be rejected by Government on grounds of fraud.

The committee maintained that AMERI in its agreement with government dated February 10th, 2015, charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company, PPR, which financed and executed the project.

The Turkish firm pegged the total cost of the project which is to span over a 5 year period at a maximum of 360 million dollars. However, the Build Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) agreement signed between government and AMERI was pegged at a minimum of 510 million dollars.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Future power deals will be strategized – Boakye Agyarko appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Nana Addo made the announcement on Tuesday when he presented the first list of his ministerial appointments of thirteen (13) people, and named Boakye Agyarko as minister designate for the merged Ministry of Energy.

The President said having one individual to have oversight responsibility of the entire sector with the support of a formidable supporting staff, will produce the results needed.

He expressed the hope in the ability of Mr. Agyarko to lead a team of competent persons who can tackle the challenges facing the energy sector.

“There were all kinds of problems about the duplication of activities and the need for us to rationalize the infrastructure our energy sector. So I think that Boakye Agyarko is in the position to undertake that task and do it successfully, so he’s the one that I am recommending to parliament for approval. We are pitting back petroleum and power to have one person head the various institutions.”

The Ministry of Power was created in 2014 by Ghana’s former President John Mahama, in the heat of the worsened power crisis.

Dr. Kwabena Donkor, MP for Pru East and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, was made the Minister of Power, but he resigned a year after he failed on his own promise to tackle the deepened power crisis at the time, christened ‘dumsor’.

At the time, the Office of the President explained that the new Ministry was to bring about a sharper focus on the generation, supply and efficiency of power to match the growth the economy was experiencing.
With this new development, the former Ministry of Power is defunct, to make way for the Ministry of Energy, which will deal with both petroleum and power issues.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Akufo-Addo merges Energy and power ministries appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mining companies have complained about the high cost of operating thermal power and the discomfort that comes with it.

Speaking to Citi Business News Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Tony Aubynn said the move is part of processes to reduce the burden on the national grid and reduce their cost of operation.

“Many of the companies are now looking at renewable energy sources because of the cost of thermal based energy resources. Most of them are looking at even their own generation as they mix with what is available from government so I believe that it will become part of their energy status. We are going to combine the renewable bit and in fact the chamber of mines is actively investigating that option,” he said.

It would be recalled that the Chamber of Mines early this year stated that mining companies would soon be resorting to renewable energy sources to meet their energy needs as part of processes to reduce burden on the national grid and reduce their cost of operation.

It followed the Energy Commission’s announcement of plans it has initiated plans to begin full implementation of the initiative before the end of the year.

The CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Konney also stated that the development will facilitate the processes to meet the country’s energy mix by 2020.

“Companies are actually considering it seriously before long we are to see the companies taking the commercial decision to actually get some of their power from renewable sources,” Mr. Konney stated.

The move was to further reduce pressure on the national grid.

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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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