Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited has suspended its operations with immediate effect thus indefinitely shutting down its 560MW plant.
The shutdown was due to accumulated unpaid debt owed by the government.
The Independent Power Producer (IPP) in a letter addressed to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) “Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited Company announces with regret an indefinite suspension of operations at the Sunon Asogli Power Plant, effective Monday, 4th December 2023 at 6 PM.
“This difficult decision became necessary due to avoidable delays in payment from the GoG/Electricity Company of Ghana for power supplied, as well as, the unproductive engagements to find an amicable solution.”
The IPPs had raised concerns about the failure of the government to pay their arrears.
In an earlier statement, they said “We refer to our letters dated March 27, 2023 and May 25, 2023 with reference numbers IPGG/1/2023 and IPGG/2/2023 addressed to the Minister [Finance] by which the IPP Chamber stressed the urgent necessity for the government to prioritise payment of the outstanding arrears owed to members of the IPP Chamber to enable the IPPs to cover critical operational costs required to continue operations and pay overdue debt service.”
The statement added “We had indicated in our letters that IPPs needed to receive an interim payment of 30% of the outstanding arrears of each IPP by 20th June 2023.
“Unfortunately, we have not seen any good faith indication or commitment of such impending payment from ECG/Government as of today, June 21, 2023, despite the Electricity Company of Ghana‘s recent collection efforts, as reported in the media, which yielded circa ¢3.1 billion.
“At an emergency meeting of the IPP Chamber held on Tuesday 20th of June 2023, it was resolved that unless the IPPs receive the interim payment requested by the 30th June 2023 the members of the IPP Chmaber will not be in a position to guarantee the continued generation of electricity after 30th June.”