ASEC Calls On Government To Privatise Parts Of ECG's Operations

• The Africa Sustainable Energy Centre has urged the government to privatise some parts of the Electricity Company of Ghana's operations
• The think tank argues that the partial privatisation of the electricity provider would improve efficiency and enhance power delivery
• It noted that while similar actions by governments across the world had mixed outcomes, Ghana could learn from mistakes and errors

The Africa Sustainable Energy Centre (ASEC) has called for the government to privatise parts of the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) operations.

ASEC argued that privatising parts of the ECG’s operations would enable the power distributor to focus on its core technical duties while private investors handled the administrative and commercial aspects.

The suggestion comes amid concerns about irregular power supply nationwide and the ECG’s indebtedness.

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According to ASEC, by privatising the commercial and administrative parts of ECG’s operations, it can finally focus on maintaining and upgrading its infrastructure to ensure efficient energy supply and reduce power losses.

It noted that while the outcomes of similar endeavours across the country have been mixed, it is certain that by learning from other countries' mistakes and building on others' successes, Ghana’s model could thrive and prove beneficial.

ASEC said Ghana can avoid these mistakes by setting up robust regulatory frameworks, prioritising transparency in the privatisation process and actively engaging stakeholders on the programme.

With these measures in place, privatisation can significantly improve ECG’s efficiency and service delivery, ASEC affirmed.

Minority says privatising ECG won't solve problems

The Minority in Parliament had argued that the government’s plan to privatise the Electricity Company of Ghana would not solve the country’s power challenges.

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The National Democratic Congress said the recent power outages are largely due to the government’s inability to pay independent power producers, which has accumulated large debts.

These debts, the NDC claims, have crippled the energy sector reducing the power output of independent power producers and resulting in the ECG’s low capacity to power the nation.

A member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, told CitiTV that the government’s mismanagement of the energy sector is the root cause of the issues plaguing it.

He said that if the government had tackled the debilitating debt crisis that has plagued the energy sector for some time, the Dumsor challenge would not have reemerged.

Dr Pelpuo said privatising ECG would only transfer the debt burden to the private entity, which could exacerbate the situation when the entity becomes overwhelmed.

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Government to outsource parts of ECG’s operations

YEN.com.gh also reported that the government had announced plans to outsource the collection and billing role of the ECG.

According to the Deputy Energy Minister, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, this proposed action would eradicate collection losses.

The ECG is currently heavily indebted to independent power producers because it has been unable to raise funds to settle bills.

Proofread by Bruce Douglas, senior copy editor at YEN.com.gh

Source: YEN.com.gh